chemist entrepreneur philologist
Dessauer was born in Aschaffenburg in a family of industrialists who owned the Aschaffenburger Buntpapierfabrik, a leading coloured paper factory with a long tradition. His parents were Philipp Dessauer (in German) and Maria Elisabeth Vossen, a daughter of the paint manufacturer Franz Vossen in Aachen.
Dessauer first attended the Gymnasium in Aschaffenburg, then went to Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University in Aachen. Subsequently, he studied chemistry in Freiburg and Munich and received his doctorate there in 1892 with a thesis on pyrazoline and trimethylen derivates.
In 1896 he spent a year at a pulp mill in Wisconsin, United States of America, and from 1897 he worked in the Aschaffenburg Buntpapierfabrik with his father. After his father"s death in 1900 he joined the management of that company. Foreign his services he was awarded the title Kommerzienrat (commercial councillor).
As a student, Dessauer was an active member of Catholic students" associations. Dessauer was a member of several associations and industrialists of the Economic Committee of the BVP (Bayerische Volkspartei), and he was also a member of the Aschaffenburg City Council for the Party.
