Читать книгу History of Bridgeport and Vicinity, Volume 2: Biographical - George Curtis Waldo jr. - Страница 30

Prominent among the financial men of Bridgeport and Connecticut is Philip L. Holzer, whose identification with many corporate and business interests has constituted a contributing factor to the development of business conditions in this section of the state. He was born February 20, 1854, in the city where he still resides, his parents being John and Catherine (Andres) Holzer. The father was born, reared and educated in Germany and became a lieutenant in the army of the grand duke of Baden, serving at the time of the revolution of 1848 and 1849. He afterward came to the new world and when this country became involved in civil war he again was active in military service, becoming captain of Company B of the First Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers. With that command he went to the front and aided in the preservation of the Union.

Philip L. Holzer acquired his education in public and private schools of Bridgeport and in the Bryant & Stratton Business College. He has throughout his entire life, however, been a student, reading broadly and thinking deeply. He was a youth of but fourteen years when he made his initial step in the business world, securing a clerkship in 1868 in the office of J. & G. A. Staples, who conducted a real estate and insurance business. A year and a half later, however, he became assistant bookkeeper with the wholesale grain firm of Crane & Hurd. In 1870 he entered the Connecticut National Bank in the capacity of bookkeeper and soon afterward was promoted to the position of teller and later to that of paying teller, in which capacity he continued to serve until 1884. He then entered into co-partnership with his first employer, James Staples and his son Frank T. Staples, forming the firm of James Staples & Company, bankers, real estate and insurance agents. He then devoted himself to the mastery of the insurance business, becoming acquainted with it in all of its various phases, and several times he was called to the presidency of the Bridgeport Fire Underwriters Association. He was also one of the organizers of the Connecticut State Association of Local Fire Insurance Agents, of which he became president. Into other channels, too, he extended his efforts, becoming a director of the Holzer-Cabot Electric Company of Brookline, Massachusetts, a director of The White Manufacturing Company of Bridgeport, a director and treasurer of the Masonic Temple Association, a director and treasurer of the Mountain Grove Cemetery Association and a trustee of the Peoples Savings Bank.

Mr. Holzer has also been prominently identified with various fraternal interests. He is a member of Corinthian Lodge, No. 104, F. & A. M., is a past commander of Hamilton Commandery. No. 5, K. T., a member of Lafayette Consistory, A. & A. S. R., and a past potentate of Pyramid Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. In club circles he is a member of the Seaside Club, of which he was formerly president, of the Algonquin Club and the Brooklawn Country Club, and he is likewise a member of Franklin Bartlett Camp, Sons of Veterans. His powers of concentration constitute one of the strong elements in his life. He is capable of giving his whole attention to the work in hand and turns with equal energy and vigor to the next duty. It is this which has enabled him to cover a broad field and various lines of activity. He is known as one who has done much to mold public thought and opinion along political lines. In 1896 he was elected alderman of Bridgeport and the following year was chosen president of the board. In 1898 he was appointed a member of the board of fire commissioners and in 1899 was elected president thereof. In 1908 he was elected to represent the twenty-first district of Connecticut in the state senate and gave earnest consideration to various public questions which came up for settlement and with equal persistence fought those projects which he deemed inimical to the best good of the commonwealth. He is now serving as a member of the park board of Bridgeport, and the development and extension of the city's parks finds in him a stalwart supporter.

In 1878 Mr. Holzer was united in marriage to Miss Sara M. Smith, a daughter of John Glover and Margaret Porter Smith, representatives of old New England families. Mr. and Mrs. Holzer hold membership in St. John's Protestant Episcopal church, and they have a very wide acquaintance in Bridgeport, where the hospitality of the best homes is cordially accorded them.