Industrialist, Inventor. Founder of Robert Bosch GmbH, the world’s largest supplier of auto parts. Born near Ulm, he attended a technical school near his home and then apprenticed as a mechanic. He worked in this trade for a number of companies, including Edison. In 1896 he founded the company that eventually bore his name. The following  year he was the first to use a magneto for a motor vehicle, and in 1902 the first commercially successful spark plug was invented in his workshops. Many other innovations followed. A socially conscious businessman, Bosch was interested in promoting occupational training and was one of the first to introduce the 8-hour workday in Germany. Refusing to profit from World War I, he donated his surplus revenue to charity,  and he was involved in international peacemaking efforts until the rise of the Nazi party in the early 1930s brought an end to those activities. He supported resistance efforts against Hitler and saved many from deportation. In his will he left 92% of his business interests in the hands of the Robert Bosch Stiftung,  a charitable foundation to which the majority of Bosch company profits are devoted today. (bio by: Kenneth Gilbert)  Family links:  Spouses:  Anna Kayser Bosch (1864 – 1949)*  Margarete Woerz Bosch (1888 – 1979)* *Calculated relationship