Jean Sessler

Jean Sessler (born January 5, 1822 in Biel / Bienne as Johann Jakob Sessler ; † September 13, 1897 ibid) was a Swiss politician and businessman . He represented the canton of Bern in both the National Council and the Council of States . He was also mayor of Biel.

biography

The son of the blacksmith Simon Sessler completed a commercial apprenticeship in Biel and worked from 1942 to 1847 as an accountant at the Bay cloth factory in Belp . He then worked as an assistant to the cantonal accountant before setting up his own cigar manufacturer in 1851 . In 1855 he was elected as a supporter of the radical liberals in the Biel municipal council, to which he belonged for over two decades. He officiated from 1873 until his resignation in 1877 as mayor . He was also a member of the Grand Council of the Canton of Bern from 1854 to 1882 . Sessler ran unsuccessfully in the National Council elections in 1854 in the Seeland constituency . In 1860, he made it into the National Council in the second ballot , but in the National Council elections in 1863 he was defeated by the conservative candidate Peter von Känel in the third ballot . In 1865 the Grand Council elected him one of the Bernese representatives in the Council of States for three years .

Sessler was one of the founders of the Swiss Federal Bank in 1863 . He was a member of the board of directors of the Chemins de fer du Jura Bernois from 1871 to 1888 and of the Jura-Simplon Railway from 1890 to 1897 . In this position he campaigned for a north-south rail link through the canton of Bern. He was also a member of the board of directors of Inselspital in Bern and president of the Biel Liedertafel. Jean-Sessler-Strasse in Biel city center is named after him.

Web links

• Christoph Zürcher: Sessler, Jean. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Johann Sessler on the website of the Federal Assembly

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