Jan Bogumil Bloch
Also known as Jan Bogumil Gotlieb;
born in 1836, died in 1902; "king of the iron rails", builder of
railroads in the Kingdom of Poland and Russia. He began his career with
the Kronenbergs, to whom he also became related by marriage when he wed
the daughter of the physician Dr. Henryk Kronenberg.
Highly valued as a financier, in 1865 (along with M. Epstein,
Leopold Kronenberg, Adolf Kurtz, Wladysław Laski and Lesser Levy) he
participated in the thorough reorganization of Bank Polski (Polish
Bank), which had been founded in 1828.
He also took part during the years 1867-1870 in the creation of the
Credit Society of Warsaw, the Commercial Bank, Insurance Association,
and the Warsaw Association of Water Mains and Sewers. He has chairman of
the Warsaw Stock Exchange Committee, and was one of the leading figures
in commerce and the wood products sector. In Polesie, he founded large
factories for the production of railroad ties and plywood.
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He also built several sugar refineries,
including "Dobrzelin", "Zytyn" and "Goslawice". He financed the
Lodz-Fabryczna and Libawa railroad lines. Together with Kronenberg and
Natanson, he had a large influence on the strengthening of economic ties
with the Congress Kingdom and the Russian bourgeoisie.
Counsillor, ennobled in 1883, the author of works in the field of
economics, and also of a pacifistic nature. He took an active role in
organizing the congress in The Hague in 1899. In 1901, he was nominated
by the Academy of Sciences as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. He
was famous for his philanthropic work: he donated property in Warsaw's
Powisle district for the construction of the St. Francis de Sales Social
Assistance Center.
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