Ernst Jakob Homberger
Ernst Jakob Homberger (born July 5, 1869 in Kappel SG ; † January 13, 1955 in Davos ) was a Swiss entrepreneur . He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the industrial group Georg Fischer AG in Schaffhausen and was largely responsible for international expansion. Homberger is one of the leading industrialists of his time.
Life
Ernst Jakob Homberger was born as the son of the entrepreneur Eugen Homberger-Frei in Kappel in the canton of St. Gallen . He attended schools in Ebnat Kappel, St. Gallen, Zurich and Neuchâtel. He then completed a commercial apprenticeship, two years of which in a retail business in Zurich and two years in banking and export companies in London. After two more years abroad in what was then the West Indies (today Jamaica ), he returned to Switzerland in 1896 and began work as head of accounting at the power transmission works in Rheinfelden . In 1902 he moved to the iron and steel works of the later Georg Fischer AG (GF).
Ernst Jakob Homberger stayed with this company for 50 years. He expanded the sales organization and opened up new sales markets, first in France in 1904, later in England, and in the English colonies (also in 1904), Spain (1906), Italy, Holland, Denmark, Scandinavia and Russia. In 1907 he was appointed general manager at GF. Homberger pushed the international expansion forward with takeovers in England and Germany and also in Switzerland: in 1917 with the takeover of the St. Gotthard electric steel works in Giubiasco and in 1921 of the Rauschenbach machine factory.
On November 21, 1903, he married Bertha Marguerite Rauschenbach (1883–1969), daughter of the watch manufacturer Johannes Rauschenbach and owner of the International Watch Company (IWC) Schaffhausen. After the death of his father-in-law Johannes Rauschenbach in 1904, Homberger became the family delegate at the Rauschenbach watch factory, which later became IWC. Through his connection to the Rauschenbach family, he also came into possession of a stake in GF and advanced to become the company's largest shareholder. The couple had three sons: Hans Homberger (1908–1986), Rudolf Homberger (1910–?) And Alex Homberger (1912–2007).
1952 awarded him the University of St. Gallen , the Honorary Doctorate in Economics (Dr. oec. Hc)
His merits also include a number of philanthropic activities: he set up aid funds for the workers and campaigned for housing. One of his settlements on Stahlwerkstrasse in Schaffhausen was built by the well-known Zurich architect Karl Moser . A private school for upper-class children, which arose from his initiative, existed from 1917 to 1929.
Homberger died of a stroke on January 13, 1955 in Davos. In his will he considered, among other things, the Museum zu Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen and the Music Collegium Schaffhausen. While the Schaffhausen social democrat Walter Bringolf called him an "irresponsible capitalist" in 1930, after his death he praised him as a "great and responsible entrepreneur".
literature
- Britta Leise: Ernst Jakob Homberger-Rauschenbach. In: Historical Association of the Canton of Schaffhausen (ed.): Schaffhauser Biographies. Sixth part. Schaffhauser Contributions to History Volume 81/2007. Schaffhausen 2007, ISSN 0259-3599 , pp. 137-144.
Web links
- Adrian Knoepfli: Homberger, Ernst. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland , accessed on June 22, 2019 .
- Short biography of Ernst Jakob Homberger on the website of Georg Fischer AG
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Homberger, Ernst Jakob |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 5, 1869 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kappel SG |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 13, 1955 |
| Place of death | Davos |