Alfred Bader
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Dr. Alfred Bader was born on April 28, 1924 in Vienna, Austria. Founder of what would later become Sigma-Aldrich chemical company, he is well known as an art-collector and generous donor to his alma maters.
Born into a family of Czech Jewish descent, he fled from Austria to England at age 14 to escape the Nazis. In 1940 he was deported to Canada and was interned at a camp in southern Quebec. [1]
Bader was denied admission at both University of Toronto and McGill University because their Jewish quotas were full, though he would find warm acceptance at Queen's University, where he studied engineering chemistry. He continued his education at Harvard University, earning himself a doctorate in chemistry.
He founded the Aldrich Chemical Company, a fine chemicals company which later would become the Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, the 80th largest chemical company in the United States.
His pleasures in life have been expressed by the acronym ABC: art, the Bible, and chemistry. A lifelong collector, Bader has devoted himself to the study of art history and collection of many fine paintings. His wife, Isabel, is also a fan of the fine arts, with particular interest in costume design and textile conservation.
Bader is well-respected at Queen's for his numerous generous donations, both financial and in-kind. He is the generous donor of the 15th century Herstmonceux Castle, as well as Old Masters artworks such as a Rembrandt painting. In honour of his numerous contributions, in 2004 Queen's renamed a campus road from "Queen's Crescent" to "Bader Lane". Other Queen's namesakes include "Bader Hall", the residence at the International Study Centre at Herstmonceux Castle, the Alfred Bader Fellowship, and the Bader Chair in Southern Baroque Art.
In 1995 Bader published his autobiography, Adventures of a Chemist Collector, which details his experiences from Nazi-era refugee, to chemist magnate, to fine arts connoisseur.
