Henrik Fellner

Henrik Fellner (1859-1932) industrialist, banker, member of the Upper House. He studied at the Commercial Academy. He started his career first abroad and then at the Hungarian Commercial Bank of Pest, where he was managing director from 1892. After the death of his father-in-law, he took over the management of his father-in-law's distillery. He also served as a director of several other companies, including the United Lamp and Electricity Company. He died in Budapest in 1932.

Henrik Fellner was born on 28 September 1859 in Novi Sad, in Novi Sad, into a family of Jewish origin, the son of Albert Fellner, a merchant, and Regina Róth. He completed his secondary education at the Commercial Academy.

After completing his studies, he worked for Dreyfuss in France, one of the world's leading grain trading companies. After returning to Hungary, he worked at the Hungarian Commercial Bank of Pest from 1882. After ten years of service, he became Managing Director in 1892, a post he held until 1911. Besides managing the credit department, his main task was to establish the bank's industrial relations.

After the death of his father-in-law, Vilmos Liepziger, in 1913, he took over the management of the Liepziger Vilmos distillery, where he made major improvements in the early years. In addition to these industrial activities, however, he retained his earlier interests in the banking sector. His family businesses included distilleries, sugar, potash, vinegar and paper mills. In January 1925, Henrik Fellner was involved in a serious scandal as a director of the Hungarian Commercial Bank of Pest. A French swindler named Georges Déve approached him with a request for 24 million crowns, the authenticity of which was attested to by the French Embassy. After Fellner had paid the sum, the embassy revealed that it was a mistake and the police arrested the individual. After clarifying the situation, the partially at fault French embassy offered to reimburse Fellner for half of his losses.

In the period between the two wars, he became a leading member of the National Association of Industrialists, and from 1926 president. In the meantime, he was elected vice-president of the Hungarian Commercial Bank of Pest, thanks to his previous positions and popularity. From 1927 he was a member of the Upper House.

In connection with his manufacturing activities, he was a director of the United Incandescent Lamp and Electrical Company and its chairman from 1922 to 1932. He also served as a director of the First Budapest Steam Mill Joint Stock Company, the Salgótarján Coal Mine Joint Stock Company and the Felten and Guilleamue Cable Factory Joint Stock Company. Henrik Fellner has also been Chairman of the Luiza Steam Mill Joint Stock Company, the Nagykanizsai Király-Serfőződe Joint Stock Company, the Inwald József Joint Stock Company of the Hungarian Glassworks, the National Association of Hungarian Industrialists, and Co-Chairman of the National Spirits Sales Company and the Hungarian-American Chamber of Commerce.

The elder Fellner began to fall ill in 1931, and his illness became serious in the autumn of that year. After months of care, his condition seemed to improve, but suddenly it became critical. Henrik Fellner died on 23 June 1932, and his body was laid to rest the next day in the Kerepesi Úti cemetery in the capital. His funeral was attended by almost the entire Hungarian business elite. In his memory, work stopped for five minutes in every factory and plant in the capital and the country.

Sources

Szabolcs Ásványi: The Georges Déve fraud. Hungarian National Archives, Document of the Week. 12 September 2011.

The death of Henrik Fellner. Hungarian Manufacturing. 1932(8), 7-32.

Gutenberg Big Dictionary. Volume 10. Stephaneum Nyomda Aktientársaság. Budapest, 1932. 638-639.

Ágnes Kenyeres (editor-in-chief): Hungarian Biographical Dictionary. Hungarian Hungarian Heritage. Budapest, 1967. 489.

Press material 1882-1932.

Miklós Vécsey:One Hundred Precious Hungarians. Hungária Hírlapnyomda Rt. Budapest, 1931. 77-79.