Aleksander Gudzowaty (22 September 1938 – 14 February 2013) was a Polish businessman and economist, and one of Poland's wealthiest people.

Biography

Gudzowaty graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Trade at the

University of Łódź The University of Łódź (, ) is a public research university founded in 1945 in Łódź, Poland, as a continuation of three higher education institutions functioning in Łódź in the interwar period — the Teacher Training Institute (192 ...

. From 1975 to 1979, he acted for two leading Polish foreign trade enterprises representing the entire Polish textile industry in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. From 1978 to 1993, he served as Director General of PHZ Kolmex S.A. - a railway sector company; during that time he executed one of their largest contracts ever to supply freight wagons for Iraqi Railways. Having left PHZ Kolmex S.A., in 1992 Gudzowaty set up the Bartimpex commodity trading operation, and in so doing leveraged his Russian relationships. He had vast experience in trade with the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, the CIS and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. He was listed by

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

magazine as one of the wealthiest and most influential people in the Central and Eastern Europe. His attempt to diversify into financial services ended after JV along with US insurer Cigna were dissolved and the bank BWE was divested to the private equity firm Innova Capital. Industrial assets controlled by Gudzowaty included Akwawit-Brasco, the alcohol and biofuel producer, which was acquired in a controversial privatisation deal. Gudzowaty was involved in funding the Tolerance Monument which is being raised in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

by sculptors Michał Kubiak and Czesław Dźwigaj. Gudzowaty died on 14 February 2013 at the age of 74.

Biography

References

See also