STORY OF RISE OF FINANCIAL STAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18575, 25 September 1928, Page 5

STORY OF RISE OF FINANCIAL STAR.

Tragedy Ends Life Of Captain Albert Loewenstein.

(By One Who Knew Him Well.) No. 1. EVERYONE remembers the death in July of Captain Albert Loewenstein, the famous financier, who by some means fell from his aeroplane when crossing the English Channel and was killed. The ** Star ” publishes to-day the first of a series of articles dealing with the life and work of the millionaire. The articles yvill be published daily until concluded.

LONDON, August 2. It was in 1881 that an infant son came to gladden the hearts of Mr and Mrs Loewenstein in Brussels. The banking business of which his father was a principal provided a reasonable means of livelihood for the family and, indeed, the Loewensteins were regarded at that time as being amongst the well-to-do commercial and financial families in Brussels. Loewenstein, senr, had emigrated from Germany some years before Albert’s birth. He had married in Brussels a lady of good parentage whose family were numbered amongst the haute noblesse of the Belgian capital. Alberfc soon showed signs of being an exceptional child. Throughout his boyhood his gift for leadership in sports mnd in that mysterious qualification known as savoir faire was a matter for comment. His abilities singled him out from amongst his fellows. Dnring his school days his father’s health gave rise to grave anxiety. Mr Loewenstein, senr, was unable to give more than sparse attention to the busi ness, so seriously was his health undermined. But as Albert grew up through out his teens, he showed unmistakable signs of possessing a financial mind far in excess of his years. Little - by little his father came to confide in the growing boy and almost imperceptibly, even before he was 21 : Albert drifted into unofficial manage ment of the banking business. Unfor tunately, however, the absence of the principal affected the fortunes of the business, as is often the way, and in due course it became obvious that A 1 bert would hav'e more opportunity and wider scope if he started a bus: ness of his own, unhandicapped by the embarrassments of his father’s banking business which, by the time Albert wat

21, was by no manner of means in a prosperous state. During the five years of his, shall we say. apprenticeship to the business of banking and finance, Albert succeeded in impressing a number of wealthy financiers with his outstanding ability and in 1903 the firm of stallaerts and Loewenstein was founded for the purpose of introducing first Canadian and secondly American securities to the Brussels and Paris Stock Exchanges. The junior partner of the young firm was responsible for a new departure in Stock Exchange practice. Never before had the securities of Canadian and American companies been given quotations by the committees of the two Stock Exchanges named. Associated with the firm from its earliest davs was Dr F. S. Pearson, an American financier of international repute, who was one of the many notable passengers aboard the ill-fated Lusitania which was torpedoed « in midocean by the German submarine. It soon became obvious that Mr Stalaerts had “backed a winner” for everything the firm touched turned out satisfactoril\-. Venture after venture was undertaken with unvarying suc:ess and the name of Albert Loeweaotein became known with respect and on occasion with fear in the offices of Continental, American and Canadan financiers. Associated with him in those early lays, as I was, it was absorbingly incresting to watch the opening out of rus financial genius—for genius it was, M that I have no shadow of doubt. \ever in all my experience.—and in association with Loewenstein it was my or tune to meet many of the greatest inancial minds of the day—have I enountered a man with the same marvellous capacity for seeing a financial pro-

..usal in its entirety. That mind of his seemed able to probe with uncanny skill into a volume of detail and out of the mass of technical and other matter, there would emerge in the briefest possible time a clean-cut policy, favourable or unfavourable as the case might be, to the proposition put forward. His uncanny knack for finding " a nigger in a wood pile ” saved him from a thousand mistakes: for with his rising fame as a financial genius weird and wonderful propositions were presented to him—some of them genuine, some of them absurd, and many of them crooked. But the mind of Lowenstein seemed able to separate the wheat from the chaff and, what is. more, the first-grade from the secondgrade grain in the wheat. The nine years before the outbreak of war saw him move on from strength to strength, and those of us who were best aule to judge came to the conclusion that the enormous wealth he had already won was but the criterion of the immeasurably greater sum which he would secure with the passing years. It must not be thought, however, that all the activity of which his remarkable brain was capable was devoted to the, acquisition of money. I believe that the acquisition of money, as such, held little real interest for him, even in those early days. He regarded money merely as a means to an end, and he used thousands of francs as a lesser man might have used dollars. Everything the yqung Belgian did he did with a thoroughness and an enthusiasm which were his main characteristics. When his father's failing health rendered further business occupation impossible, Albert took over the responsibility for his parents* upkeep with a generosity that all who knew him expected, even at that time. Nothing was to be lacking in the way of comforts for Mr Loewenstein or Mrs Loewenstein. Every day Albert time to think of something to aid his father in his fight against sick-ness-something to take his mother's mind off the many anxieties of the sick room. He was a model son and there existed between himself and his parents the happiest of good relations. In spite of the unceasing care and unstinted expenditure Mr Loewenstein’s illness proved fatal. When his father had gone, Albert redoubled, if it were possible, the care and attention he bestowed on his mother, and Mrs Lowenstein very rightly regarded hirrj as a model son. His marriage, which took place in 1909, reflected once again the tempered

impetuosity with which he undertook all the affairs of life. He met at a dance in Brussels Mile. Nisonne, the charming daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Belgium. The young financier fell in love with all the abandon of youth. There was no question of an arranged marriage, as is the usual practice in France and Belgium—such a method of wooing was entirely alien to Albert Lowenstein. He loved and rejoiced to find that Mile. Nisonne reciprocated his affection. In due course the young couple were married, and there began an association which was idealistic in its happiness. Just as he had been a model son, so Albert Lowenstein proved to be a model husband—unfailing in his affection, loyal in thought and deed. The immense strain of his financial operations was never allowed to interfere with the peaceable atmosphere of his home life. When, in due course, a son, Robert, was born, both Mrs Loewensten and the financier felt that their cup of happiness was filled to the brim. And Robert is, indeed, a son to be proud of. A lad with as stout a heart as his father, the same love of sportsmanship and the same straightforward outlook on life. When war broke out, Loewenstein turned all his energies to the service of his country. He came to England and acted as liaison officer between the British and Belgian Governments, sparing , himself in no degree, in spite of the fact that his position was an honorary one. In the purchase of requirements for the Belgian Army, in financial operations necessitated. by the German invasion of Belgium, all his specialised knowledge was placed freely at the disposal of those in authority, and at the end of the war his services were so highly thought of that the honour of Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath was conferred on the Belgian captain whose services to the allied cause were of such value. When the war was over Loewenstein returned to Brussels and picked up, so far as was possible, the threads of his pre-war enterprises. He was one of the first to realise, however, that the old order of things had changed. New conditions meant new requirements, and the future of artificial silk attracted him by reason of its potentiali ties. (Another article to-morrow.) (Copyright hy the “ Star ** and the North American Newspaper AlUaaoa. All rights reserved.)