Arnold von Siemens

Arnold von Siemens (1853 to 1918) was a German telecommunications industrialist of the Siemens family and one of the successors in his family's company, Siemens. He was born in Berlin on 13 November 1853, the eldest son of Werner von Siemens, the inventor and founder of the electrical company Siemens & Halske, and Mathilde Drumann. In 1879 he took over the Vienna sales representation of his father's firm and set up a production factory there in 1883. In 1887 he opened the company's first office in Japan, and in 1892 he founded a factory for electrical locomotives in Chicago to challenge General Electric, which burned down completely in August 1894. When his father retired in 1890 Arnold succeeded him as CEO, and after Siemens & Halske was incorporated in 1897 he was chairman of its supervisory board from 1904 until his death in Berlin on 29 April 1918. His brother Georg Wilhelm von Siemens then succeeded him as chairman, and his son Hermann von Siemens later also became chairman.