SCHON, FRANK, BARON

SCHON, FRANK, BARON (1912–1995), British industrialist. Schon was born in Vienna and educated at the universities of Prague and Vienna, where he studied law. After settling in England, he founded in West Cumberland the chemical manufacturing firm of Marchon Products in 1939 and Solway Chemicals in 1943; he was chairman and managing director of both until 1967. In 1956 Marchon Products became part of Albright and Wilson, of which Schon was a director from 1958 to 1972; he was a director of Blue Circle Industries (formerly Portland Cement) from 1967 to 1982. Schon took a prominent part in the public and cultural life of the north of England, serving on the council and court of Durham University and Newcastle University. He was chairman of the Cumberland Development Council from 1964 to 1968. From 1969 to 1979 he was chairman of the National Research Development Corporation, a public agency concerned with the promotion of inventions in the national interest. He was knighted in 1966 and created a life peer in 1976. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Pollins, Economic History of the Jews in England (1982), 220–1 (Vivian David Lipman)