David Coste (manufacturer)

David Johann Coste (born September 24, 1820 in Magdeburg ; † May 29, 1880 there ) was a German businessman , manufacturer and member of parliament .

The Coste family had fled France at the end of the 17th century and have lived in Magdeburg ever since. David Coste's father, Samuel David Coste, owned a large silk dye factory. Coste attended trade and trade school from 1829 to 1835 and then did a commercial apprenticeship at the Eichel & Schmidt sugar and grocery store in Magdeburg. After completing his training, he worked there as a clerk and from 1844 to 1848 as a traveler for the important L. Jacobs refinery in Potsdam. In 1847 he founded the company Coste & Lippert sugar and grocery store together with Lorenz Lippert from Magdeburg. This company took over the sugar factory in Biere in 1860 together with the banker and city councilor Gustav Bennewitz, with the participation of the landowner Friedrich Schulze . At the same time the associated farms were acquired. The new company operated under the name Bennewitz, Coste & Comp until 1875. In 1875 there was a reorganization. Coste left the Coste & Lippert company, Bennewitz and Lippert left the company in Biere. Together with a new partner, Coste continued to operate the company in Biere under the name Coste, Schulze & Diesing.

Since 1855 Coste was a member of the elders' college of the Magdeburg corporation of merchants , today's IHK. There he was third in 1866, second in 1867 and from 1877 until his death, as the successor to Carl Deneke, first director. He campaigned for the introduction of a separate jurisdiction in commercial matters and in 1879 brought about the start of work for a Magdeburg Chamber of Commerce. He was deputy chairman of the Association of the Beet Sugar Industry of the German Empire.

Coste, who represented politically conservative positions, was a member of the city council for a total of 27 years from 1853. He was also a member of the provincial parliament of the province of Saxony . He was several times chairman or deputy of the boards of directors of Magdeburg societies and presbyter of the French Reformed community.

In 1868 he was appointed Royal Commerce Councilor and in 1880 Privy Councilor.

literature

• Martin Behrend, Magdeburg wholesale merchants, 1906, 45–50, 152.
• Hans Leonhard, memorandum for the centenary of the IHK Magdeburg, 1925, 42–45.

Web links

• Portrait in the Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon (MBL)