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“Don’t sit by and let others do great things.”

This comment, made by Philip G. Jessop head of the Department of Chemistry, perfectly sums up the legacy of the late , Queen’s alumnus, renowned chemist, visionary entrepreneur, and generous philanthropist.

Dr. Bader’s legacy was recently honoured at the (ACS) International Historic Chemical Landmark Ceremony. This occasion marked the first ACS International Historic Chemical Landmark designation in Canada in over 20 years, making this celebration a historic event for Queen’s University and the Canadian chemical community.

The ceremony, organized by the , included a plaque unveiling recognizing Dr. Bader’s impact. The student chapter members and organizers of the event included:

• President - Daniel Reddy
• Vice President - Rachel Korchinsky
• Secretary - Rachel Wood
• Treasurer - Tyler Rotholz
• Faculty Advisor - Dr. Farnaz Heidar-Zadeh
• Public Outreach Director - Dr. Noushin Rajabalinia
• Graduate Affiliate - Adesuwa Oni
• Undergraduate Affiliate - Emma Dafoe

In 1938, a young Alfred Bader, of Jewish heritage, was evacuated from Austria to England, where he became a refugee and was deported to Canada in 1940. He pursued higher education at Queen’s University, the only institution that admitted him based on Jewish quotas. He then moved on to complete his PhD at Harvard.

In 1951, Dr. Bader co-founded the Aldrich Chemical Company. Prior to that time, chemists performing bench research had to prepare their own reagents. Not only was that an expensive process, but it slowed the pace of research and innovation. His vision changed this – he created a chemical clearing house that could manufacture and supply specialty chemicals directly to laboratories via a mail-order service.

Aldrich eventually merged with Sigma to become Sigma-Aldrich, which today is a billion-dollar company.

“He created a company that he saw as a societal need, and that’s a great inspiration for our students,” says Dr. Jessop. “To me that’s the crux of this. He fixed a fundamental problem in society as research was greatly hampered by the lack of available chemicals.”

“Students also don’t realize how much power they have. They take their courses and do what they are instructed to do. Students need to realize they can make things happen just like Alfred did; they have so much power. Not only are they getting things done, but they are also showing other students and future employers they can make things happen.”

Beyond his scientific and entrepreneurial accomplishments, Dr. Bader was a preeminent art collector and influential philanthropist. In 1962 he established Alfred Bader Fine Arts and became a noted collector of many masterpieces, including those by Rembrandt.

Alfred and his wife Isabel donated more than 200 paintings to Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University, spanning the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries and with a focus on Dutch and Flemish paintings of the Baroque era, giving the centre one of the largest and collections of European art in Canada.

The Baders also donated four Rembrandts to the Agnes including Old Man in a Cap in 2003, Head of a Man in a Turban in 2007, and Man with Arms Akimbo in 2015. A fourth Rembrandt, Head of an Old Man with Curly Hair, was donated by Linda and Daniel Bader in 2019.

“The fact that the Head of the Chemistry and the Head of the Art History and Art Conservation departments are standing here together is not at all coincidental,” says Norman Vorano, Department Head, Art History and Art Conservation. “It speaks directly to the kind of person Dr. Bader was. Many of you know Dr. Bader as a chemist, and entrepreneur, an art collector, a philanthropist, but he was also a very respected scholar of art history, who made important contributions to the study of 17th century art. For Dr. Bader, chemistry, art, and philanthropy were not separate worlds. At Queen’s that vision has had a lasting impact.”

Bader Philanthropies Inc. was founded in 1992 and is led by one of Dr. Bader’s sons, Daniel Bader. The organization has provided more than $500 million in grants for organizations in Wisconsin and abroad.

“Today isn’t only about chemistry; it’s about innovation, it’s about education, it’s about perseverance and, above all, it’s about the transformational power of a human life,” says Daniel Bader. “This is the institution that helped shape my father after one of the darkest periods, World War Two. Because Queen’s didn’t just educate my father, it helped restore.”

“My father arrived in Canada after surviving the Holocaust and what came with that was loss, displacement, and uncertainty. And yet under those circumstances emerged one of the greatest innovators in the history of modern chemistry. That journey reminds us that human potential is never fully determined by where someone begins.”