Karl Christian Friedrich Pfizer (; March 22, 1824 – October 19, 1906), known as Charles Pfizer, was a German-American businessman and chemist who co-founded the

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfize ...

pharmaceutical company with his cousin,

Charles F. Erhart Charles F. Erhart (born Karl Erhart; 25 September 1821–1891) was a German-born businessman who co-founded the American pharmaceutical company Chas. Pfizer & Co. Inc. with Charles Pfizer, his cousin and, later, brother-in-law. Career Like ...

, in 1849, as Chas. Pfizer & Co. Inc.

Life and family

He was born Karl Christian Friedrich to Karl Frederick Pfizer and Caroline (born Klotz). Like his older cousin, future business partner and brother-in-law, Karl Erhart, Pfizer was born in Ludwigsburg,

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg (german: Königreich Württemberg ) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which existe ...

(now Germany). He emigrated to the United States in October 1848.U.S. Passport Application for Charles Pfizer, May 1899; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, 1795–1905; Roll #: 525; Volume #: Roll 525 – May 11, 1899 – May 19, 1899 Pfizer married Anna Hausch, in 1859, in his hometown of Ludwigsburg, where he often visited. They had six children, five of whom survived to adulthood: Charles Jr (1860–1928), Gustavus (1861–1944), Emile (1864–1941), Helen Julia (born 1866, who married Sir Frederick Duncan, 2nd Baronet), Alice (who married Baron of Austria), and Ann (1875–1876). He built a Lutheran Church in New York.

Career

In 1849, he borrowed US$2,500 from his father to buy a commercial building in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. As of the 2020 United ...

. He then co-founded Chas. Pfizer & Co. Inc. The company produced

santonin Santonin is a drug which was widely used in the past as an anthelminthic. It is an organic compound consisting of colorless flat prisms, turning slightly yellow from the action of light and soluble in alcohol, chloroform and boiling water. Accor ...

, an

antiparasitic Antiparasitics are a class of medications which are indicated for the treatment of parasitic diseases, such as those caused by helminths, amoeba, ectoparasites, parasitic fungi, and protozoa, among others. Antiparasitics target the parasitic age ...

, later expanding production to other chemicals. Pfizer's partner and cousin, Charles F. Erhart, also wed his sister, Frances, becoming his brother-in-law. When Erhart died, in 1891, their partnership agreement came into effect, which stipulated that the surviving partner could buy the other's share of the company for half of its inventory value. Pfizer promptly exercised this option, paying his partner's heirs $119,350 for Erhart's half of the business. He remained as the head of the company for 51 years, until 1900, when it was incorporated. Charles Pfizer Jr. then became the company's first president; he was later succeeded by his brother, Emile.

1906 injury and death

Pfizer died at his summer home, "Lindgate", in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

; his main residence was in

Clinton Hill, Brooklyn Clinton Hill is a neighborhood in north-central Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. It is bordered by the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the north, Williamsburg to the northeast, Classon Avenue and Bedford–Stuyves ...

. His death followed a fall down stairs, a few weeks prior, in which he broke an arm and was further injured.

References

External links

Charles Pfizer
at Pfizer.com *Stevenson, William
"Charles Pfizer."
In ''Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present'', vol. 2, edited by William J. Hausman. German Historical Institute. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pfizer, Charles 1824 births 1906 deaths 19th-century German chemists German emigrants to the United States American manufacturing businesspeople Pfizer people Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery People from Ludwigsburg People from the Kingdom of Württemberg Pharmaceutical company founders 19th-century American businesspeople