Dr. h.c. Max Kade (13 October 1882, Steinbach near
Schwäbisch Hall
Schwäbisch Hall (; "Swabian Hall"; from 1802 until 1934 and colloquially: ''Hall'' ) is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg located in the valley of the Kocher river, the longest tributary (together with its headwater Lein) of the ...
,
Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
– 15 July 1967,
Davos, Switzerland
, neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch
, twintowns =
}
Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...
) was an emigrant from Germany to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
who became successful in the pharmaceutical industry. Kade was committed to advancing German-American relations. He established a foundation in New York to promote scientific and technical progress and to further the peaceful coexistence of nations.
Life
Max Kade was born October 13, 1882, in Steinbach, a village near Schwäbisch Hall, Germany.
His father was a partner in a machine factory and iron foundry. After finishing school, Kade completed a commercial apprenticeship in his father's business. Later he lived in Völklingen and Antwerp. In 1904 he emigrated to North America, living first in Montreal, then moving to New York in 1907. With a partner, he founded Seeck & Kade Inc., a pharmaceutical company, which after 1911 he directed alone. The company had great success with its cough syrup "
Pertussin".
On January 26, 1908, Kade married Annette Marie Baudais. They had no children. In the 1920s the couple began to lend their fortune to philanthropic and social causes. Great attention was bestowed upon his home city, Steinbach, which had become part of Schwäbisch Hall in 1930. Kade was also an art collector and a patron of the arts who made many valuable gifts to German museums.
In addition to his honorary citizenship of Steinbach (1929) and Schwäbisch Hall (1935), Max Kade received numerous honors from the universities he aided. He died on July 15, 1967, at the age of 85 years, during a stay at a health resort in Davos, Switzerland. He was buried in Steinbach.
Max Kade Foundation
In 1944, Kade and his wife founded the Max Kade Foundation in New York. Following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the foundation concentrated primarily on the needs of war victims and rescuing works of art and other objects of the German cultural heritage. Later it shifted its focus to supporting university activities, in particular, German-American cultural relations. One of its primary goals involves the promotion of mutual understanding of the people and cultures of Germany and the United States. The foundation has funded research facilities, libraries, dormitories, meeting places, as well as German and German-American studies programs. Max Kade Houses or Institutes exist at 30 locations in the United States and 17 in Germany.
References
External links
IUPUI Max Kade German-American Center Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th st ...
Kade-Duesenberg German House and Cultural Center Valparaiso University
Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana. It is a Lutheran university with about 3,000 students from over 50 countries on a campus of . Originally named Valparaiso Male and Female College, Valparaiso Universit ...
Max Kade Center for Contemporary German Literature Washington University in St. LouisMax Kade Center for European and German Studies Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
Max Kade Center for German-American Studies University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
Max Kade Center for German Studies Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...
Max Kade Center for German Studies Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...
Max Kade German-American Research Institute Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State becam ...
Max Kade German Center Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
Max Kade German Cultural Center University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...
Max Kade German House University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...
Max Kade German House Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest coeducational liberal arts college in the United States and the second oldest continuously operating coeducational institute of highe ...
Max Kade German House University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
Max Kade Writer/Scholar in Residence and Charlotte M. Craig Visiting Research Scholar Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
Max Kade House University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8.1 ...
http://www.max-kade-haus.de/english_index.html Max-Kade houses in Germany and Austria
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kade, Max
1882 births
1967 deaths
German emigrants to the United States
20th-century American businesspeople