Richard Josef Baer (11 September 1892 – 13 December 1940) was a Swiss physicist and banker who was a partner of Julius Baer Group between 1922 and 1940 (his death). Baer was the oldest son of

Julius Baer Julius Baer (; né Isaac Baer; born 2 January 1857 – 9 March 1922) was a German-born Swiss banker, businessman and philanthropist. Baer was the founder and namesake of Julius Baer Group, and the patriarch of the Baer family. Early life and ...

and father to Hans J. Baer.

Early life and education

Baer was born 11 September 1892 in

Basel, Switzerland Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city (after Zurich and Geneva), with ...

, the oldest of three sons, to

, a

German-Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

banker originally from Heidelsheim (presently

Bruchsal Bruchsal (; South Franconian: ''Brusl'') is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Bruchsal is the lar ...

), and Marie Baer (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Ulrich; 1869–1917). His younger brothers were; Walter Jakob (1895-1970) and Werner Baer (1899-1960). He was initially raised in Basel before his family relocated to Zurich in 1897. He completed his

Matura or its translated terms (''mature'', ''matur'', , , , , ', ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...

in 1912 and then studied

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. Founded in 1402, it is one of the ol ...

. He returned to Switzerland as

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

broke out and completed his studies at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

and

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

. Shortly thereafter he completed his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Würzburg under Emil Hilb.

Personal life

In August 1922, Baer married Ellen Lohnstein (1902-1998), a daughter of Ludwig Lohnstein (1872-1943) and Maria Lohnstein (

Kann; 1881-1955). His in-laws relocated to Geneva after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. They had four children; * Marianne Baer (1923-2011), married Jorgen Likke Olson (1923-2006) * Hans Julius Baer (1927-2011), long-term president and chairman of Julius Baer Group, married Ilse Kaelin (1920-2008); two children * Ruth Irene Baer (born 1930), married to David Rudolf Speiser; four children * Thomas August Baer (born 1937), an attorney in Erlenbach, married firstly to Heidi Wolff-Limper (born 1940), secondly to Monika Bettschart (born 1932); no children Baer died 13 December 1940 aged 48, shortly before the family planned to emigrate to the United States. His family went to Princeton, New Jersey after his death arriving in May 1941. In 1950, his wife would remarry to fellow scientist

Hermann Weyl Hermann Klaus Hugo Weyl (; ; 9 November 1885 – 8 December 1955) was a German mathematician, theoretical physicist, logician and philosopher. Although much of his working life was spent in Zürich, Switzerland, and then Princeton, New Jersey, ...

Literatur

* Ernst Bieri, Peter Holenstein, Karl Völk: ''1890–1990 – Eine Bank und ihre Familie – Eine Familie und ihre Bank'', 352 Seiten, herausgegeben von der Bank Julius Bär, Zürich 1990, S. 84–89 (in German)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baer, Richard J. 1892 births 1940 deaths ETH Zurich alumni