Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche

Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche, later Fritz Hoffmann-von der Mühll (1868 1920), was a Swiss businessman who founded the pharmaceutical company F. Hoffmann-LaRoche & Co. Early life Fritz Hoffmann was born in Basel, Switzerland on 24 October 1868, the third child of Friedrich Hoffmann and Anna Elisabeth Merian. His godparents were his maternal grandfather Johan Heinrich Merian von der Mühll; his uncle, the Mayor of Basel, Carl Felix Burckhardt von der Mühll; and Anna Von der Mühll. His family were wealthy businesspeople from Basel's social elite ("the Daig"), and they provided both employment experience and investment at the beginning of his business career. In the 1870s and 80s he completed primary and high school in Basel and then completed an apprenticeship at a bank in the francophone part of Switzerland. When he returned to Basel in 1889 he entered a second internship at a pharmaceutical company. Between 1891 and 1892 he stayed in London, and between 1892 and 1893 in Hamburg to further his experience in chemistry-related business. Upon his return to Basel his father became a shareholder of his former employer, who then gave Fritz a leading position in the business. Marriages and children On 2 May 1895, Hoffmann married Adèle La Roche (18761938). It was a common practice in Switzerland for married couples to hyphenate the name, so from this point he was often referred to as Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche. They had two sons, Emmanuel (4 May 1896, Basel 3 October 1932, Basel) and Alfred (25 July 18981987). The couple were divorced in 1919, and he married divorcée Elisabeth von der Mühll, also of the Daig (18821970).