Victor Gustav Bloede (chemist)

Victor Gustav Bloede I
Bloede circa 1900
Born	(1849-03-14)March 14, 1849 Dresden, Germany
Died	March 27, 1937(1937-03-27) (aged 88) Catonsville, Maryland, US
Citizenship	Germany United States
Alma mater	Cooper Institute, New York
Known for	Entrepreneurship Philanthropist
Children	Victor Gustav Bloede II
Parent(s)	Marie Franziska Jungnitz Gustav Bloede
Relatives	Gertrude Bloede, sister Victor Gustav Bloede III, grandson

Victor Gustav Bloede I (March 14, 1849 – March 27, 1937), (pronounced as Blerda) was a chemist and manufacturer of chemicals, president of the Victor G. Bloede Company, and businessman.

Bloede was born in 1849, in Dresden, Germany, the son of Marie Franziska Jungnitz and Gustav Bloede. Gustav was a physician and member of the city council of Dresden during the German revolutions. Gustav had to flee Germany and made his way to Antwerp where he waited for his family to arrive. The family (Marie, Gustav, and their three children, Gertrude, Kate and Victor) sailed from Antwerp on July 14, 1850, aboard the Julia Howard, arriving in New York on August 21. Upon coming to the United States, Gustav Bloede served as a surgeon in the American Civil War. After the war the family settled in Brooklyn, New York. The cultured Bloede home became a salon, which attracted such 19th century figures as Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Victor received the groundwork of his education in public school and by the age of 12 he began to support himself by working as an office boy and earned the means to pursue his studies. While working by day he studied at night at the Cooper Institute in New York City, where he was mentored by Peter Cooper.

His mother, Marie Bloede was his chief inspiration, guiding, encouraging, and strengthening his growth. His family was one of marked culture, not only had his father distinguished himself by work in natural sciences, but on his mother’s side as well, two uncles had been prominent in literature and politics. Like his father, Victor also became interested in natural science as he studied at Cooper Institute, and he graduated in 1867, earning a chemical engineering degree at the age of 18. His class was the first at the institute to receive diplomas for the chemical engineering course. He was also privileged to have been a personal acquaintance of the great Industrialist, Inventor, philanthropist and founder of the institution, Peter Cooper, whose example and teachings were strongly influential in molding Victor's character and in his life work.