Alfred Pfister

Background

He was born on September 3, 1880 in Zurich, Switzerland, the son of Jean Pfister and Elise Gloor.

Education

After education in the Zurich public schools, he enrolled at the turn of the century in the Chemical Institute of the University of Basel, where he studied with Jules Piccard and C. F. R. Fichter.

Career

After receiving the Ph. D. , Pfister obtained a job in Basel at Hoffmann-La Roche, a pharmaceutical company.

At the time, chemists, engineers, and other technical experts with European training were widely sought by American manufacturers and American branches of European firms. Although Pfister's reasons for leaving Switzerland are unclear, his chemistry degree and industrial experience in Basel provided excellent credentials. By 1908 he was working for Nolde and Horst, a hosiery dyeing company in Reading. Another Reading company, the Spring Valley Dye Works, lured him away from Nolde and Horst in 1910 to become its general manager.

Pfister remained with Spring Valley until 1914, when he took a position as research chemist and general manager with Jacques Wolf and Company, a chemical firm in Passaic, New Jersey. Pfister must have demonstrated considerable business acumen in his new job, for he became president and treasurer of the company in 1918, positions he held until 1932. Although he had moved from research into management, his contacts undoubtedly helped him to keep abreast of progress in dye chemistry.

Despite the Great Depression, Pfister decided in 1932 to start his own firm in Ridgefield, New Jersey. Initially he marketed a line of dye intermediates, but the company soon branched into the production of other organic intermediates and specialty chemicals for use in bactericides, fungicides, and cancer chemotherapy. During World War II, the Pfister Chemical Company was among a group of manufacturers that provided the Chemical Warfare Service with napalm, an aluminum soap of naphthenic and palmitic acids that converts gasoline into a thick jelly for use in incendiary weapons.

Pfister became a naturalized United States citizen in December 1913, but he remained proud of his Swiss heritage. In 1930 he became president of the Amerikanische-Schweizer Zeitung, a German-language weekly published in New York City.

He had retained the presidency of his company until his death. Pfister died in New York City.

Achievements

• Alfred Pfister was well-known as the head of Jacques Wolf and Company, developed new lines of textile chemicals and captured a share of the lucrative American market for synthetic organic chemicals that had been dominated by German and Swiss firms before World War I. He also was the president of the Amerikanische-Schweizer Zeitung, designed to foster pride in Swiss culture among the large community of Swiss-Americans in the New York metropolitan area. In addition to his publishing endeavors, Pfister supported the Pestalozzi Foundation, a Swiss organization that provided education and social opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

Membership

He was a member of the American Chemical Society and as a charter member of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists.

Connections

On September 10, 1906, he married Paula Rebmann. The Pfisters decided to immigrate to the United States soon afterward. They had three children.

Father:

Jean Pfister

Mother:

Elise Gloor

Spouse:

Paula Rebmann