Max Schmidheiny
Max Schmidheiny (businessman) | |
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Born | April 3, 1908 |
Died | August 19, 1991 (Age 83) |
Nationality | Swiss |
Children | • Thomas Schmidheiny • Stephan Schmidheiny • Alexander Schmidheiny |
Siblings | Ernst Schmidheiny |
Spouse | Adda Schmidheiny-Scherrer |
Member of | The 1001 Club |
One of the most influential captains of industry in Switzerland in the 20th century
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Max Schmidheiny was a Swiss businessman, politician and founder of the Max Schmidheiny Foundation. He was one of the most influential captains of industry in Switzerland in the 20th century, getting a boost during World War 2 thanks to his German connections.
He attended the 1970 Bilderberg meeting. His son Stephan attended the 1994 and 1995 Bilderberg meetings.
Background
Max Schmidheiny was born at Heerbrugg Castle, the son of Ernst Schmidheiny, and attended the canton school in Trogen. He earned an ETH diploma in mechanical engineering.
Schmidheiny was married to Adda Schmidheiny-Scherrer († 1997). He himself is the father of Thomas Schmidheiny, Stephan Schmidheiny , Alexander Schmidheiny and a daughter, Adda-Marietta Schmidheiny-Amit[1]. Marietta Schmidheiny-Amit is a trained singer, lived in Israel for a long time, speaks Hebrew fluently and later also acquired US citizenship. Max Schmidheiny's brother is Ernst Schmidheiny II. economy
Career
After taking over the family inheritance with his brother Ernst, he expanded of the Holderbank cement factory into one of the world's leading producers of building materials.
Thanks to the war economy and Schmidheiny's connections to Germany, the optics and precision engineering company Wild in Heerbrugg expands.
He was Chairman of the Board of Directors 1954-83 Wild, 1934-74 Hiag, 1974-84 Holderbank Financière Glarus AG, 1966-70 Brown Boveri. In 1959 he was an initiator of Swisspetrol AG for crude oil research in Switzerland, 1978 of the Sarganserland power plants.
1939-1948 he was municipal councilor of Balgach, 1948-1954 sat in the canton St. Gallen assembly for the FDP, and between 1959-1963 he was National Councilor.
In 1978 he established of the liberal Max Schmidheiny Foundation. In 1984 he divided of the business areas to his sons Thomas and Stephan.
Event Participated in
Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
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Bilderberg/1970 | 17 April 1970 | 19 April 1970 | Switzerland Hotel Quellenhof Bad Ragaz | the 19th Bilderberg meeting, in Switzerland. |