Alfred Lowenstein

Alfred Loewenstein was born in Brussels, Belgium, to Bernard Loewenstein, a German-Jewish banker who converted to Catholicism, and the daughter of Brussels stockbroker Chrétien Dansaert, a Catholic. Alfred established his own banking concern, and was a wealthy man by 1914.

During World War I, Loewenstein was commissioned in the Belgian Army; leading to associates and newspapers commonly referring to him as Captain Loewenstein. He offered the Belgian government at Sainte-Adresse US$50 million ($1.61 billion in 2025), interest-free, to stabilize the Belgian currency in return for the right to print Belgian francs—the offer was refused. At war's end, he maintained a residence in England where he ran an investment business that made him one of Europe's most powerful financiers.

Loewenstein partnered with the investment house of Canadian-born Sir James Hamet Dunn in several business ventures; the duo emerging with more than £1,000,000 profit from their 1920s investment in the chemical company British Celanese alone. Loewenstein was also an owner of a successful stable of thoroughbred steeplechase race horses; his horses won the 1926 and 1928 runnings of the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris.

Loewenstein made an enormous fortune providing electric power facilities for developing countries worldwide through his Belgian-based company, Société Internationale d'Énergie Hydro-Électrique (SIDRO). By the mid-1920s, Loewenstein's reputation was such that he was consulted by heads of state from around the globe. The British government made Loewenstein a Companion of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath.

In 1926, Loewenstein established "International Holdings and Investments Limited", which raised huge amounts of capital from wealthy investors wishing to get aboard his bandwagon of success.

In 1926, he bought Villa Sacchino, a sumptuous house in Biarritz, in the French Basque Country, with a view on the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic Ocean.

News and investigation

News of Loewenstein's demise caused panic selling in his corporations' publicly-traded shares, which immediately plummeted in value by more than 50 percent.

On 12 July 1928, it was reported that tests had been conducted by the Accidents Branch of the British Air Ministry using Loewenstein's aircraft. It was stated that at an altitude of 1,000 feet (300 m) one of the Ministry men had thrown himself against the aircraft's entry door, which had opened about 6 inches (15 cm). However, he was immediately thrown back into the aircraft when the slipstream violently slammed the door shut. It was concluded that it would have been impossible for someone to accidentally open the door and fall out.

Loewenstein's body was discovered near Boulogne on 19 July 1928 and was taken by fishing boat to Calais, where his identity was confirmed by means of his wristwatch; an autopsy was performed (at the request of his family), his brother-in-law stating that they did not suspect anyone of foul play, but that they did not want anyone to suggest after the burial that Loewenstein might have been poisoned or had died in the aircraft and then been thrown out. The autopsy revealed a partial fracture of Loewenstein's skull and several broken bones; it was concluded that he had been alive when he struck the water.

Loewenstein was buried in a cemetery outside Evere, in a tomb belonging to his wife's family, the Misonnes. However, his name was never carved on the slab covering his casket, so he was in effect buried in an unmarked grave.