Alfred Bader

Alfred Bader (1924–2018) was an Austrian-born Canadian chemist, entrepreneur, art collector, and philanthropist. His autobiography, Adventures of a Chemist Collector (1995), brings together the scientific and artistic interests that shaped his life. Born in Vienna, he escaped Nazi persecution through the Kindertransport to Britain in 1938. He was later interned and sent to Canada, where admission to Queen’s University in 1941 opened a new path to education.

At Queen’s, Bader studied engineering chemistry, history, and chemistry before completing doctoral work in organic chemistry at Harvard. He co-founded Aldrich Chemical Company in Milwaukee in 1951, developing a business that supplied chemicals to researchers. Aldrich merged with Sigma in 1975, and he served in senior leadership at Sigma-Aldrich. His memoir offers a personal perspective on the relationships between scientific research, enterprise, and collecting.

Bader’s interest in Old Master paintings became a lasting commitment to art scholarship and public collections. His gifts to the Agnes Etherington Art Centre helped establish its collection of works by Rembrandt and his circle. With his wife Isabel, he also supported scholarships and cultural facilities at Queen’s and donated Herstmonceux Castle to the university in 1993. His honours included the Pittcon Heritage Award in 2009, recognizing his contribution to the chemical community.