Carl Leverkus

Dr. Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Leverkus (1804-1889).
German chemist, pharmacist and industrialist.

The above is a copyrighted picture reproduced here by permission:  © 2006 Jochen Wilke.
Quoted source:  "Neues Bergisches Wappenbuch Bürgerlicher Familien" by Eike Pies.
[ The blazon below has not been checked against that source, or any other. ]

Azure, a chevron Gules [ cottised Or ? ] between two leopards Or in pale and
a roofed castle of four towers Or, ports and windows Argent.
On an inescutcheon Argent overall, a sword Sable bendwise, pommel to the chief point.
Crest :   A dexter hand armored Argent, holding the blade of a sword Azure fesswise, hilt dexter.
Motto :   Nisi Dominus Frustra   (in vain if not for the Lord).

Carl Leverkus (1804-1889) was born on November 5, 1804, in Wermelskirchen.  The nearby town of  Leverkusen  (formerly Wiesdorf)  has now been named after him.  Leverkusen is best known as the home of the pharmaceutical giant  Bayer AG, which is based on the company Leverkus created. 

Wermelskirchen was part of the  Duchy of Berg.  This makes Leverkus a "compatriot" of Jochen Wilke, who drew the above arms.  Leverkus and Wilke are distant relatives.

While working as a pharmacist, Leverkus studied chemistry at Marburg and at the Sorbonne (Paris, France) before obtaining his doctorate from Giessen in 1830.  Carl Leverkus opened his first factory in 1834, in his hometown of Wermelskirchen.  In 1891, he company of Carl Leverkus was sold by his sons to a newer entity:  Friedrich Bayer & Co.  (itself founded in 1863 by Friedrich Bayer).

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