2009 Pitton Heritage Awardee

Alfred R. Bader, Ph.D.

Alfred Bader was born 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, ten months before the outbreak of World War II.  Although a Jewish refugee from the Nazis, he was interned in 1940, along with other “enemy aliens,” and sent to a Canadian prisoner-of-war camp.  Obtaining his release in 1941, he was accepted at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where he studied engineering chemistry.  There followed a fellowship and doctorate in organic chemistry at Harvard.

Dr. Bader spent time in industry working at PPG prior to establishing Aldrich. In 1951 he founded Aldrich, which became, as Sigma-Aldrich, one of the world’s suppliers of research chemicals.  After being ousted from the company in a boardroom coup he turned his attention to old master paintings, becoming a leading collector and dealer.

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.

Alfred and Isabel have earned a reputation as generous benefactors, notably in the fields of chemistry, education, and Jewish interests.  Bader’s personal philanthropy has been particularly directed towards helping students of chemistry and art history.

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.