Samuel David Alexander

Samuel "Sami" David Alexander (13 July 1862 – 8 March 1943) was a Croatian Jewish industrialist, doyen of Croatian industrialists, a philanthropist and a member of the Zagreb prominent Alexander family.

Background and family Alexander, known as Der Gescheite (The Smart One), was born in Zagreb to a Jewish family. His father, Jonas Alexander, was a merchant who came to Zagreb from Güssing, Austria and his mother Roza (née Stern) was from an old influential Jewish family from Zagreb. Alexander's father was councillor at the "Croatian commercial artisan chamber". Alexander had a younger brother, Šandor, and two sisters, Gizela and Ilka. He attended elementary and high school in Zagreb, and a business academy in Vienna. Around 1860 his father opened a grain store in Zagreb. After his education, Alexander returned to Zagreb and started to work with his father. In 1880 he moved to Sisak where he opened another grain store for his family business. There he was introduced to his future wife, Emma (née Neumann), the daughter of Varaždin businessman Wolf Neumann. With his wife Alexander had three daughters, Vera (died as a child), Gizela and Mira, and four sons, Ivo, Božidar, Branko and Dragutin. All his children were born in Sisak. Since 1885 he was the president of the choral society "Danica". In 1915 he moved back to Zagreb with his family. In 1893, Alexander bought a brewery in Sisak, "Sisačka pivovara". and was vice president of the savings cooperatives for Sisak and surrounding areas. and was co-founder of "Zagreb assembly" (now "Zagreb Fair"). He died there relatively peacefully at the age of 80 in 1943. Alexander was buried at the Mirogoj Cemetery. In an attempt to save themselves from the Ustaše and Nazi persecution, his family was scattered all over the world. Some of them temporarily stayed in Perugia, Italy. His wife and children survived the Holocaust.