The memories of one generation of Baders is kept alive by current family members to share with others. In Milwaukee, the foundation has a special focus on community and neighborhood development.
H. Carl Mueller
Special to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Today we feature the remarkable story of a teenage refugee from Nazi Europe who built a successful business in Milwaukee and created a family legacy of philanthropy that lives on with future generations.
Saving the memory and personal stories of past generations presents a special challenge to many families — and too often gets put off until it is too late. The example of this family shows how wonderful stories can be saved and shared with generations to come.
The story begins with the early life adventures of Alfred Bader, a young teenager forced to flee his native Austria to avoid Hitler’s takeover prior to World War II. As a refugee he made it to England, but when he turned 16 he was interned by the British government as an “enemy alien” and transported to a Canadian prisoner of war camp. He was released from the camp in 1941 and got accepted at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry.
Bader went on to earn a doctoral degree in organic chemistry from Harvard University and became a research chemist at Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. in Milwaukee for several years. In 1951 he founded Aldrich Chemicals, which became one of the world’s largest suppliers of research chemicals. In 1975 the company merged with Sigma Chemical and became known as Sigma Aldrich. Bader remained chairman and part owner of the company until he retired in 1991.
Alfred Bader’s legacy continues
A lifelong art collector, Bader co-founded the Alfred Bader Fine Arts Gallery in 1961 and he continued a successful career as an art collector and dealer for the rest of his life. He and his family became generous benefactors and created Bader Philanthropies in 1992, providing grants totaling over $500 million to many causes in Milwaukee and around the world.
The foundation supports programs in education, health and social justice. In Milwaukee, the foundation has a special focus on community and neighborhood development. In a major leadership move, the foundation created a new headquarters in the heart of Milwaukee’s Harambee neighborhood at 3300 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Today, the Bader investment has helped attract other projects along King Drive after years of neglect in this central city neighborhood.
To help keep the family legacy alive and meaningful to current and future generations, the family hired an archivist to help collect, organize and preserve the family’s collection of papers, photographs, memorabilia and artifacts left by family members.
Today, there is a special room with displays that help tell the stories of Alfred Bader and his two wives, Helen Daniels Bader and Isabel Overton Bader. Among other artifacts, you can see Helen Bader’s favorite violin, Isabel’s sewing chest and pictures of a young Alfred as a research chemist.
Most of all, you can learn about a family’s dedication to giving most of its wealth to philanthropy and the ongoing contributions of their foundation to many causes. The memories of one generation of Baders is kept alive by current family members to share with others.
Alfred Bader’s two sons, Daniel and David, have done a wonderful job of creating a living legacy in memory of their parents and continuing the practice of giving the family wealth to support worthwhile causes in Milwaukee and the rest of the world. They have also created an example that other families can follow and leave a lasting, living legacy.
Modern technology now offers us wonderful new ways to capture family stories through video interviews with current family leaders and to share them via the internet with current and future generations. Philanthropy offers a way to honor the family legacy and inspire others to become part of the tradition of giving back to the community that helped create family wealth.