Charles Pfizer

Charles Pfizer (born 1824 in Ludwigsburg as Karl Pfizer, died October 19, 1906) was a German chemist who immigrated to the United States in the early 1840s and founded the Pfizer Inc. pharmaceutical company in 1849 as Charles Pfizer & Co. He remained at its head until 1900, when the company was incorporated and Charles Pfizer, Jr. became its first president. When Charles Jr. retired, his brother Emil succeeded him in his post.

He made frequent trips to Europe, and met his wife Anna Hausch, whom he married in 1859, in his hometown of Ludwigsburg. They had five children.

He died at his summer home, Lindgate, in Newport, Rhode Island; his year-round home was in Brooklyn. His death came a few weeks after a fall down stairs in which he broke an arm and was otherwise badly injured. Two daughters, Alice, Baroness Bachofen von Echt and Mrs. Frederick Duncan of Vienna, were with him when he died.