Leopold Bachmann
Leopold Bachmann (February 22, 1933 - December 26, 2021) was a Swiss real estate mogul, investor, and philanthropist.[1]
Life and work[edit]
Bachmann was born near Innsbruck in Tyrol. He grew up with four siblings and moved to Switzerland in 1954 to study. He was initially employed as a civil engineer before starting to develop housing projects of his own in 1963.[2]
He became known for his fast and efficient construction methods. While most of Switzerland's new real estate was focused on luxury housing, he chose to build apartments for middle and lower-earning tenants as well as families with children, leading the media to give him the title "low-cost builder of the nation".[3] He built around 1,500 rental apartments in large estates in Zürich, Winterthur and Uster between 1998 and 2003. He accused the construction industry of "building far too expensively" and thus failing to meet the needs of families and lower-income groups. In 2002, Bachmann was one of the largest private housing providers in Zürich.[4] When he died at the age of 88, he owned around 5,000 apartments as well as other holdings and extensive building land, including the CeCe graphite works site, which he developed in 2007 to hold a residential complex of 515 apartments.[5] An obituary in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper called Bachmann a "pioneer of affordable housing".[6]
Bachmann was married to Johanna Bachmann, with whom he had five children. He lived in Rüschlikon, near Zürich.[citation needed]
Philanthropy[edit]
Bachmann established the private Leopold Bachmann Foundation[7] in 1997, which uses its income to benefit social aid organizations as well as educational and environmental projects around the world. Endowed with an initial equity of more than fifty million Swiss francs from properties contributed by Bachmann, the foundation reportedly made donations of around sixty million Swiss francs in the first twelve years of its existence. As of 2021, it was listed as one of the wealthiest foundations in Switzerland, with assets of around one billion Swiss francs.[8]
The Leopold Bachmann Foundation continues to be directed by his heirs and works to support social projects and charities in Switzerland and abroad.[9][10]
References[edit]
- ^ "Wohnüberbauung Wässerwiesen und im Gern Hegi - Winterthur Glossar". Retrieved 2023-07-29.
- ^ "Nachruf auf Leopold Bachmann – Er vermietete Wohnungen so günstig wie Genossenschaften" (in German). 2022-01-05. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
- ^ ""Mein Benchmark sind die Genossenschaften"". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). 2010-03-24. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
- ^ Andreas Hofer: Billig als Prinzip: eine Untersuchung des Sparpotenzials der Wohnsiedlungen von Leopold Bachmann. In: TEC21, Band 130/2004, Heft 13, S. 6–11.
- ^ Daniel Kurz: Affoltern auf dem langen Weg zur Stadt. In: TEC21, Band 137/2011, Heft 44, S. 16.
- ^ Martin Huber: Der Baulöwe aus Rüschlikon, der günstigen Wohnraum geschaffen hat, Tages-Anzeiger, 5. Januar 2022
- ^ "Leopold Bachmann Stiftung". SwissFoundations (in German). Retrieved 2023-07-29.
- ^ "Die reichsten Stiftungen der Schweiz - Eine Übersicht". www.fundraiso.ch (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 2024-01-20.
- ^ "WWF Jahresbericht 2022" (PDF) (in German). WWF. 2022-01-01. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
- ^ "Caritas Jahresbericht 2022" (PDF) (in German). Caritas. 2023-01-01. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
External links[edit]
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