Alfred Escher
Encyclopedia
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
politician and railway entrepreneur. A member of the Swiss National Council from 1848 to his death 1882, he presided over the council three times (1849-50, 1856-57 and 1862-63).
Escher endorsed the idea of building and running the railway lines in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
by private companies. Later (after 1853), by being president of railway companies, he became a railway magnate.
He was one of the founders of Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (now Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse
The Credit Suisse Group AG is a Swiss multinational financial services company headquartered in Zurich, with more than 250 branches in Switzerland and operations in more than 50 countries.-History:...
) in 1856.
He died in 1882 in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
. On June 22, 1889, the Alfred-Escher memorial by Richard Kissling
Richard Kissling
Richard Kissling was a Swiss sculptor.Born in Wolfwil, Switzerland, Kissling went through apprenticeship as a plasterer before moving to Rome for 13 years, studying under the sculptor Ferdinand Schlöth. At the 1883 National Exhibition in Zurich, Kissling showed a portrait bust of the Swiss...
at Zürich Hauptbahnhof was inaugurated.