Alfred Escher (February 20, 1819 in Zürich – December 6, 1882) was a Swiss 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 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) in 1856.

He died in 1882 in Zürich. On June 22, 1889, the Alfred-Escher memorial by Richard Kissling at Zürich Hauptbahnhof was inaugurated.

[edit] External links

• Markus Bürgi: Alfred Escher (vom Glas) in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
• Alfred Escher in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• Alfred Escher by Credit Suisse

Political offices
Preceded by Jakob Robert Steiger	President of the National Council 1849/1850	Succeeded by Johann Konrad Kern
Preceded by Jules Martin	President of the National Council 1856/1857	Succeeded by Paul Migy
Preceded by Karl Karrer	President of the National Council 1862/1863	Succeeded by Joachim Heer

Persondata
NAME	Escher, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Swiss politician and railroad entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH	February 20, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH	Zurich
DATE OF DEATH	December 6, 1882
PLACE OF DEATH	Zurich

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