25 Facts About George Rosenkranz

George Rosenkranz was born in Hungary, studied in Switzerland and emigrated to the Americas to escape the Nazis, eventually settling in Mexico.

At Syntex corporation in Mexico City, Rosenkranz assembled a research group of organic chemists that included future leaders from around the world, such as Carl Djerassi, Luis E Miramontes and Alejandro Zaffaroni.

George Rosenkranz stepped down as CEO in 1982, at the age of 65.

George Rosenkranz was an American Contract Bridge League Grand Life Master at his hobby of duplicate bridge, with more than 13,000 masterpoints and 12 NABC titles.

George Rosenkranz wrote or co-wrote more than 10 books on bridge.

George Rosenkranz was born in 1916 in Budapest, Hungary, the son of Etel and Bertalan George Rosenkranz.

George Rosenkranz studied chemical engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, where he received his doctorate.

Unable to go to Ecuador, George Rosenkranz accepted the Cuban president Fulgencio Batista's offer allowing refugees to stay in the country and work.

George Rosenkranz found work at the Vieta Plasencia Lab, where he was asked to develop treatments for venereal disease.

George Rosenkranz was recruited to replace him, and moved to Mexico City in 1945.

George Rosenkranz faced the challenge of analyzing Marker's samples to identify their ingredients and reverse engineering Marker's chemical production processes.

George Rosenkranz didn't have much help: his initial staff included nine lab assistants and only one other chemist, and Mexico lacked a PhD program in chemistry.

When he couldn't find enough fully trained local chemists, George Rosenkranz recruited researchers from Mexico and around the world.

George Rosenkranz helped to create an institute of chemistry, the Instituto de Quimica, now considered "a flagship in Mexico's ethnobotanical research".

George Rosenkranz was able to attract significant synthetic organic chemists as researchers and instructors and to obtain funding to expand programs for the training of organic chemists.

George Rosenkranz helped to start the Institute for Molecular Biology in Palo Alto.

George Rosenkranz's team started working in two shifts, and their dedication paid off.

George Rosenkranz understood the importance of peer recognition, not just commercial success, to the scientists who worked for him.

George Rosenkranz himself is the author or co-author of over 300 articles in steroid chemistry and is named on over 150 patents.

George Rosenkranz gave up his executive positions at Syntex in 1981.

George Rosenkranz died at the age of 102 on 23 June 2019.

George Rosenkranz was a world-class bridge player and one of the most successful in Mexico.

George Rosenkranz won 12 NABC-level events at thrice-annual North American Bridge Championships meets, including all four major teams-of-four titles: the Grand Nationals, Reisinger, Spingold and Vanderbilt.

George Rosenkranz created the Romex bidding system, an extension of Standard American with many gadgets.

George Rosenkranz invented the Rosenkranz double and Rosenkranz redouble, and wrote more than a dozen books on bridge.