Ernst Jakob Homberger (5 July 1869 – 13 January 1955) was a Swiss industrialist. He was the director of the company Georg Fischer from 1902 and the director of the watch manufacturer

International Watch Company IWC International Watch Co. AG, also known as IWC Schaffhausen, is a Swiss watch manufacturer located in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Originally founded by American watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones in 1868, IWC has been a subsidiary of the Sw ...

from 1905.

Family and early life

Homberger was born in 1869. He attended schools in

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website = ...

and

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

, and received a trade education at a school in Neuchâtel. He married Bertha Margaretha Rauschenbach in 1903, a daughter of Johannes Rauschenbach-Schenk. In the same year, his wife's sister Emma Rauschenbach married the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phi ...

. Homberger and his wife had three sons who became notable rowers: Hans Homberger (1908–1986), Rudolf Homberger (1910–?), and

Alex Homberger Alexander H. Homberger (26 October 1912 – 15 April 2007) was a Swiss rower who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics in three boat classes. He was born in Schaffhausen and died in Muskegon, Michigan Muskegon ( ') is a city in Michigan ...

(1912–2007).

Professional career

After his education, Homberger started his working life in trading companies and banks in Zürich and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He then worked for a bank in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

. He returned to Switzerland in 1896 and worked for Kraftübertragungswerke Rheinfelden, a newly-formed company that had the concession for a hydroelectric generation plant in the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

. Homberger quickly rose to become the company's authorised representative and was head of accounting. Homberger entered the management of the Georg Fischer company in

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the ...

on behalf of a bank and soon purchased company shares for himself. Since 1902, Homberger was the company's commercial director. Through his 1903 marriage he became involved in the

together with his brother-in-law

. When Johannes Rauschenbach-Schenk died in 1905, both Jung and Homberger became shareholders alongside their wives, and Homberger became managing director. Homberger became sole owner in 1929 when he bought out Jung. In 1952, the

University of St. Gallen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

awarded an honorary economics doctorate (Dr. oec. h. c.) to Homberger. When Homberger died on 13 January 1955, his son Hans took over the company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Homberger, Ernst 1869 births 1955 deaths Swiss watchmakers (people) People from Schaffhausen Swiss industrialists University of St. Gallen alumni People from St. Gallen (city)