Alfred Léonard Loewenstein (11 March 1877 – 4 July 1928) was a Belgian
financier
An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...
. At his peak in the 1920s, Loewenstein was worth around £12 million in the currency of the time (equivalent to £ million in ), making him the
third-richest person in the world at the time. His wealth came from investments in
electric power and
artificial silk Artificial silk or art silk is any synthetic fiber which resembles silk, but typically costs less to produce. Frequently, "artificial silk" is just a synonym for rayon. When made out of bamboo viscose it is also sometimes called bamboo silk.
Th ...
businesses when those industries were in their infancy.
Loewenstein is remembered today for his mysterious disappearance and death in 1928.
Early life and business career
Alfred Loewenstein was born to Bernard Loewenstein, a
German-Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
banker in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Belgium, who converted to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
Alfred established his own banking concern, and was a wealthy man by 1914.
Loewenstein offered his
government in exile
A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile ...
US$50 million, interest-free, to stabilize the Belgian currency in return for the right to print
Belgian francs. The offer was refused. At war's end, he maintained a residence in England where he ran an investment business that made him one of Europe's most powerful financiers. He partnered with the investment house of
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
-born
Sir James Dunn in several
business ventures, the duo emerging with more than £1,000,000
profit from their 1920s investment in
British Celanese
British Celanese was a chemical company based in England. Formed in 1916, it survived as an independent company until 1957 when it became a subsidiary of Courtaulds.
History
The origins of the company lie with two brothers, Henri and Camille ...
alone.
Loewenstein was an owner of a successful stable of
thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
steeplechase race horses. His horses won the 1926 and 1928 runnings of the
Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris
The Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris is a Group 1 steeplechase in France which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Auteuil over a distance of 6,000 metres, and during its running there are twe ...
.
Business successes
Loewenstein made an enormous fortune providing
electric power facilities for developing countries worldwide through his Belgian-based company, ''Société Internationale d'Énergie Hydro-Électrique'' (SIDRO). By the mid-1920s, Loewenstein's reputation was such that he was consulted by heads of state from around the globe. The British government made Loewenstein a
Companion of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as on ...
.
In 1926, Loewenstein established "International Holdings and Investments Limited", which raised huge amounts of
capital from wealthy investors wishing to get aboard his bandwagon of success. However, he was rebuffed in his attempt to
take over a Canadian company called
Barcelona Traction, Light, and Power, a huge operation building
infrastructure in Brazil.
In 1926, he bought a sumptuous house (486
square meters) in
Biarritz, in the
French Basque Country
The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country ( eu, Iparralde (), french: Pays basque, es, País Vasco francés) is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitu ...
, with a view on the
Bay of Biscay and the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
. In 2019,
Sotheby's International Realty
Sotheby’s International Realty is a luxury real estate brand founded in 1976 by Sotheby's fine art dealers. Sotheby's International Realty operates as a franchise focusing on brokering and marketing of residential real estate.
As of 2018, the ...
shows the house.
Alleged drug deal with Arnold Rothstein
The writer
Johann Hari
Johann Eduard Hari (born 21 January 1979) is a British-Swiss writer and journalist who has written for ''The Independent'' and ''The Huffington Post''. In 2011, Hari was suspended from ''The Independent'' and later resigned, after admitting to ...
has alleged that shortly before his death, Loewenstein had made a deal with American crime boss
Arnold Rothstein
Arnold Rothstein (January 17, 1882 – November 4, 1928), nicknamed "The Brain", was an American racketeer, crime boss, businessman, and gambler in New York City. Rothstein was widely reputed to have organized corruption in professional athletic ...
to supply
opiates
An opiate, in classical pharmacology, is a substance derived from opium. In more modern usage, the term ''opioid'' is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain (including antagonist ...
into the growing European market.
Disappearance
On the evening of 4 July 1928, Loewenstein left from
Croydon Airport to fly to
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
on his private aircraft, a
Fokker F.VIIa/3m trimotor (G-EBYI), along with six other people. While the aircraft was crossing the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
at an altitude of , Loewenstein went to the rear of the aircraft to use the
lavatory
Lavatory, Lav, or Lavvy may refer to:
*Toilet, the plumbing fixture
*Toilet (room), containing a toilet
*Public toilet
*Aircraft lavatory, the public toilet on an aircraft
*Latrine, a rudimentary toilet
*A lavatorium, the washing facility in a mon ...
. In Loewenstein's aircraft, a door at the rear of the main passenger cabin opened on to a short passage with two doors: the one on the right led to the lavatory, while the one on the left was the aircraft's entrance door.
When Loewenstein had not reappeared after some time, his secretary went in search of him and discovered that the lavatory was empty, while the aircraft's entrance door was open and flapping in the slipstream. The employee (along with the others on the aircraft) asserted his belief that Loewenstein had fallen through the aircraft's rear door and plunged several thousand feet to his death in the English Channel. The aircraft landed first on the beach, before transferring to the airfield at
Saint-Inglevert,
Pas-de-Calais, France.
[
]
News and investigation
News of Loewenstein's demise caused panic selling
Panic selling is a large-scale selling of an investment that causes a sharp decline in prices. Specifically, an investor wants to sell an investment with little regard to the price obtained. The sale is problematic because the investor is reacting ...
in his corporations' publicly traded shares, which immediately plummeted in value by more than fifty percent.
On 12 July 1928, it was reported that tests had been conducted by the Accidents Branch of the British Air Ministry using Loewenstein's aircraft. It was stated that at an altitude of one of the Ministry men had thrown himself against the aircraft's entry door, which had opened about . However, he was immediately thrown back into the aircraft when the slipstream
A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or mustard) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving fluid, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is churning. The term sli ...
violently slammed the door shut. It was concluded that it would have been impossible for someone to accidentally open the door and fall out.
Loewenstein's body was discovered near Boulogne on 19 July 1928 and was taken by fishing boat to Calais, where his identity was confirmed by means of his wristwatch; an autopsy was performed (at the request of his family), his brother-in-law stating that they did not suspect anyone of foul play, but that they did not want anyone to suggest after the burial that Loewenstein might have been poisoned or had died in the aircraft and then been thrown out. The autopsy revealed a partial fracture of Loewenstein's skull and several broken bones; it was concluded that he had been alive when he struck the water.
Loewenstein was buried in a cemetery outside Evere
Evere (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region (Belgium). On 1 January 2006, the municipality had a total population of 33,462. The total area is which gives a population density of . In common with all of Brussels' m ...
, in a tomb belonging to his wife's family, the Misonnes. However, his name was never carved on the slab covering his casket, so he was in effect buried in an unmarked grave.
Theories
Many theories have been put forward as to exactly what had happened to Loewenstein in the back of his aircraft; some suspected a criminal conspiracy in which his employees murdered him. ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' hypothesised that a growing absent-mindedness, noted by many of Loewenstein's acquaintances, may have caused him to walk out the wrong door of the aircraft. Because he had left behind a tangled web of business ventures, many of which were highly leveraged, others theorized that his business empire was on the verge of collapse. Some even asserted that corrupt business practices were about to be exposed and that Loewenstein, therefore, committed suicide. None of these theories were ever proven.
In 1987, William Norris wrote Loewenstein's story in a book titled ''The Man Who Fell From the Sky'' (New York: Viking, 1987). Norris presents evidence in support of his case that, if Loewenstein's death was not a conspiracy by business rivals and associates, a certain opportunism existed regarding the death of the tycoon and his insurance
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
. He also shows that later events are frequently ignored, such as the fact that Loewenstein's son Robert shot one of the family servants under murky circumstances within a decade or so after the tragedy. The son was himself killed in an aviation accident in 1941 while serving with the Air Transport Auxiliary
The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of the Second World War with headquarters at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire. The ATA ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between factori ...
. Norris concluded that Loewenstein had been thrown from the aircraft by the pilot, Donald Drew, at the behest of Madeleine Loewenstein, the motive being to gain control of his fortune. He suggested that the aircraft's rear door was completely removed while in the air, and a replacement later fitted on the beach at St. Pol.
Crime writers Robert and Carol Bridgestock have speculated that Loewenstein faked his own death and disappeared because of the financial irregularities in his businesses. This theory is supported by the facts that the body was buried in an unmarked grave, and that his wife did not attend the funeral.[BBC Radio 4, 12 July 2014, Steve Punt '' Punt PI The Mysterious Death of Flying Millionaire Alfred Loewenstein '']
In popular culture
* In 2010, Loewenstein's death was the subject of an episode of the History Channel
History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
's ''Vanishings!'' series.
*In 2014, Loewenstein's death was the subject of an episode of BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's ''Punt PI
''Punt PI'' is a fact-based comedy radio series on BBC Radio 4 in which Steve Punt investigates mysteries in Britain.
Format
Each episode is 30 minutes long and there are three or four episodes in each series.
Starting with series two, every ep ...
''.
*In 2021, Loewenstein's death was the subject of the final episode of ''Buzzfeed Unsolved: True Crime''.
See also
*J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...
*Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
*John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...
*William A. Clark
William Andrews Clark Sr. (January 8, 1839March 2, 1925) was an American politician and entrepreneur, involved with mining, banking, and railroads.
Biography
Clark was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He moved with his family to Iowa in 1 ...
*William Jackson Palmer
William Jackson Palmer (September 18, 1836 – March 13, 1909) was an American civil engineer, veteran of the Civil War, industrialist, and philanthropist. During the American Civil War, he was promoted to brevet brigadier general and receive ...
*Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer ( ; born Pulitzer József, ; April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American politician and newspaper publisher of the '' St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' and the ''New York World''. He became a leading national figure in ...
*Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...
*Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...
*Marjorie Merriweather Post
Marjorie Merriweather Post (March 15, 1887 – September 12, 1973) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist. She was also the owner of General Foods Corporation.
Post used much of her fortune to collect art, particularly I ...
*Marcus Daly
Marcus Daly (December 5, 1841 – November 12, 1900) was an Irish-born American businessman known as one of the three " Copper Kings" of Butte, Montana, United States.
Early life
Daly emigrated from County Cavan, Ireland, to the United States ...
*William Barstow Strong
William Barstow Strong (May 16, 1837 – August 3, 1914) served as president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from 1881 to 1889. He is often referred to as either William B. Strong or W. B. Strong.
Life and career
He was born in ...
*William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
General
*List of unsolved deaths
This list of unsolved deaths includes well-known cases where:
* The cause of death could not be officially determined.
* The person's identity could not be established after they were found dead.
* The cause is known, but the manner of death (homi ...
*List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea
Throughout history, people have mysteriously disappeared at sea, many on voyages aboard floating vessels or traveling via aircraft. The following is a list of known individuals who have mysteriously vanished in open waters, and whose whereabouts r ...
Publications
* William Norris: ''The Man Who Fell From the Sky''. New York, Viking, 1987.
* Maurice Privat: ''La vie et la mort d'Alfred Loewenstein''. Paris, La nouvelle société d'édition, 1929
E. Phillips Oppenheim: ''Who Travels Alone. The Life and Death of Alfred Loewenstein'' Project Gutenberg Australia. (e-book, 2012). Accessed 23 Dec. 2015
References
External links
BBC audio with podcast link for Punt PI Series 7 Episode 1 The Mysterious Death of Flying Millionaire Alfred Loewenstein
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loewenstein, Alfred
1877 births
1920s missing person cases
1928 deaths
Belgian bankers
Belgian expatriates in the United Kingdom
Belgian financiers
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Belgian Jews
Belgian people of German-Jewish descent
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Deaths by falling out of an aircraft
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Unsolved deaths
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1928