# Schopflocher, Siegfried

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-20 — 1 clipping.*

---

> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Will C. van den Hoonaard, Schopflocher, Siegfried, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Schopflocher, Siegfried (1877–1953)
> Canadian Bahá’í of German-Jewish background; named by Shoghi Effendi a Hand
> of the Cause of God in 1952.
> 
> ARTICLE OUTLINE:                                            LIFE IN GERMANY AND CANADA
> Life in Germany and Canada                    Siegfried ("Fred" or "Freddie") Schopflocher was
> Bahá’í Travels                                born in Fürth, Bavaria, near Nuremberg, on 26
> Financial Contributions                       September 1877, the youngest of eighteen
> Administrative Services                       children. His parents, both lifelong residents of
> Personal Qualities                            Fürth, were Salomon Schopflocher (1824–1903), a
> salesman, and Sara Goetz (1835–1908), daughter
> ARTICLES RESOURCES:
> of Rabbi Joel Goetz. Little is known of
> Notes                                         Schopflocher’s childhood and youth. He attended
> Other Sources and Related Reading             university—probably in the city of Frankfurt, where
> he moved in July 1893—but did not finish his last
> year. Raised as an Orthodox Jew, he became an agnostic after leaving school and began an extended
> spiritual search. He also determined to succeed in business. He began working as a salesman-
> apprentice, apparently for his brothers Nathan and Julius, who had established a bronze and aluminum
> powder factory in Frankfurt.
> 
> Schopflocher crossed the Atlantic several times between 1900
> and 1904. In 1906 he emigrated to Canada and settled in
> Montreal, where he first appears listed in a 1910 city directory.1
> He founded the Canadian Bronze Powder Works in (Salaberry de)
> Valleyfield, Quebec, near Montreal. Later described as an
> "astute, hard-driving, forceful man of the business world," 2
> Schopflocher was president of the firm, which eventually had
> affiliated bronze powder works in New York State and New
> Jersey and offices around the globe. A North American
> subsidiary of International Bronze Powder Works (headquartered
> in Germany) until that company was confiscated by the Nazi         Schopflocher family home (no longer standing) at 50
> Königstrasse, Fürth, Germany. City Archives of Fürth.
> regime in the 1930s, the company then became known as              Photo courtesy of Joachim Schuster.
> 
> International Bronze Powders Limited. Schopflocher held the
> world patent rights for bronze powder (used for coating objects to give them the color and luster of
> bronze or gold). Many years later, the firm he established would provide the powder used in the James
> Bond film Goldfinger (1964).
> 
> In January 1918 Schopflocher married Florence Evaline (known as "Lorol," or "Laurel," and by the
> nickname "Kitty") Snyder (1886–1970), who was born and raised in Montreal but had lived at one time
> in New York City, where the wedding took place. The couple had no children. Most of Schopflocher’s
> large family died in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Surviving relatives (descendants of
> his brothers and an uncle) live in Montreal and Edmonton in Canada and in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
> 
> BAHÁ’Í TRAVELS
> A few years after Lorol and Fred Schopflocher married, Lorol met a Bahá’í named Rose Henderson in
> Montreal and found herself attracted to the Faith. When she was invited to Green Acre, the Bahá’í
> school and conference center in Eliot, Maine, Lorol took the opportunity to learn more about the
> religion. Fred, skeptical but willing to indulge his wife, agreed to accompany her. Both the
> Schopflochers became Bahá’ís at Green Acre in the summer of 1921.
> 
> A few months later, the couple journeyed to Mandatory Palestine to meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, but they arrived
> shortly after His passing in Haifa on 28 November 1921. According to an account by Rosemary Sala, a
> longtime friend, the visit to Haifa marked the beginning of Fred’s life as a Bahá’í. He had followed
> Lorol’s lead in investigating the Bahá’í Faith but had not shared her immediate enthusiasm. Even after
> becoming a Bahá’í, he had retained his skepticism about religion and resisted emotional commitment.
> During their visit to Haifa, however, Fred met Saichiro Fujita, the second Bahá’í of Japanese descent,
> who had become a Bahá’í in California in 1905, had traveled with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in America, and had
> gone to Palestine in 1919 to serve at the Bahá’í World Center. Through Fujita, in a moment of immense
> spiritual emotion, Fred became confirmed in his faith. 3
> 
> In 1924 and 1925 Fred made return visits to Haifa to meet
> Shoghi Effendi, with whom he developed a close relationship.
> After their first meeting, Shoghi Effendi referred to him as "My
> beloved Fred, that living torch, lit by the spirit of our departed
> Master [‘Abdu’l-Bahá]" and as a "zealous and promising disciple
> of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá." 4 Shoghi Effendi readily recognized
> Schopflocher’s "clear understanding of, and entire devotion to,
> the interests" of the Bahá’í Faith,5 and Schopflocher gained a
> devotion to Shoghi Effendi that was "immediate and lasting."6
> 
> Fred’s wealth and business connections, combined with Lorol’s
> skills as a speaker, offered the couple many ways to assist the
> new religion. Fred financed Lorol’s extensive travels throughout
> the world to promote the Bahá’í Faith, during which she was
> able to visit more than eighty countries. Lorol was one of a
> handful of Western women, including her close friend Keith
> Ransom-Kehler, who attempted to alleviate the persecutions of
> the Bahá’ís in Iran. She visited the country several times during
> the 1920s.
> 
> Fred’s travels were no less widespread than those of his wife.
> Siegfried Schopflocher. National Bahá’í Archives,
> United States.                           From the moment he met Shoghi Effendi, Schopflocher not only
> carried out specific assignments given to him by Shoghi Effendi but also journeyed to many parts of the
> world. His trips were undertaken primarily for business, but they provided opportunities for him to visit
> Bahá’í communities, which often organized public meetings at which he spoke. He was also able to
> discuss the Bahá’í Faith with some of the people he met. Schopflocher traveled to Europe, Latin
> America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica), the South Pacific (New Zealand, Australia),
> and Asia (the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Burma, India). The North American journal Bahá’í
> Magazine: Star of the West published several of Schopflocher’s travel accounts, filled with ethnographic
> details of places he visited and stories of his encounters with people interested in the Bahá’í Faith.
> 
> Because of his prominence and integrity as an industrialist, Schopflocher was highly regarded by his
> business associates in many lands. The Bahá’ís he met in his travels found him to be, as he was
> described in a 1936 letter written on Shoghi Effendi’s behalf, "truly one of the most distinguished
> believers in the West." 7 They benefited from the practical experience and perspectives Schopflocher
> shared in question-and-answer sessions and other meetings. In Sydney, Australia, in 1936, for
> example, he discussed with the Local Spiritual Assembly community issues, including "fostering the
> community spirit through properly organized socials[,] as the test of Bahá’ís was their ability to
> associate together in love and harmony," and he visited the property at Yerrinbool that was to become
> a Bahá’í school.
> 
> When not traveling, Fred and Lorol Schopflocher maintained a busy life in Montreal, where they were
> deeply involved in local Bahá’í activities. They also owned a cottage at Green Acre (Ole Bull Cottage)
> and a nearby farm called Nine Gables.
> 
> FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
> Schopflocher made a number of remarkable contributions to the develop¬ment of the North American
> Bahá’í community. The most enduring relates to the building of the Bahá’í House of Worship in
> Wilmette, Illinois (See: Mashriqu’l-Adhkár.Houses of Worship around the World.Chicago). Through his
> visits to Shoghi Effendi, he realized the importance of this project for the growth of the Bahá’í Faith and
> made several large donations to the Temple fund. A 1936 letter written on Shoghi Effendi’s behalf
> states that "it was mainly due to his [Schopflocher’s] unfailing and most generous assistance that the
> Temple in Wilmette was built." 9 In addition to making direct contributions, he was able to generate
> fresh en¬thusiasm for resumption of work on the Temple’s exterior ornamentation during the Great
> Depression of the 1930s. Another 1936 letter written on Shoghi Effendi’s behalf asserts that
> Schopflocher’s name will "ever be associated" with the Wilmette Temple: "Had it not been for the
> continued and whole-hearted support, both financial and moral, which he so generously extended to it,
> that edifice could never have been reared so steadily and efficiently."10
> 
> Schopflocher was also deeply interested in developing Green Acre. He once told a gathering that, when
> looking at the Green Acre buildings during his first visit there in 1921, he said to himself, "Freddie, if
> you become a Bahá’í, it’s going to cost you a lot of money. Well, I did, and it did!"11 His contributions
> to Green Acre, "the sacrifice of . . . time, energy and money" which Shoghi Effendi commended, made
> possible both improvements and repairs.12 Schopflocher donated several important properties that are
> now part of the school, including a cottage that still bears his name. He also gave attention and
> financial support to Geyserville Bahá’í School in northern California.
> 
> In 1941 the imposition of Canadian wartime currency exchange regulations limited the amount of
> money that residents could take out of the country, making it impossible for Canadian Bahá’ís to attend
> summer schools in the United States. Schopflocher provided the material means to arrange for such
> institutions in Canada. A much cherished gift in 1947 was the donation, in cooperation with Canadian
> Bahá’ís Emeric and Rosemary Sala, of a permanent Bahá’í school property called Beaulac, located north
> of Montreal. For more than two decades, this school was one of the chief means by which groups of
> Bahá’ís from central and eastern Canada could study the Bahá’í Faith together.
> 
> Eager to assist Shoghi Effendi, Schopflocher helped to subsidize publication of The Bahá’í World, a series
> of reference volumes on the Bahá’í Faith and its international activities that were prepared under Shoghi
> Effendi’s supervision and in which he took a keen interest. Schopflocher sent bronze powder for use in
> another activity to which Shoghi Effendi devoted close personal attention: the beautification of the
> Bahá’í World Center, including the gates before the entrance door of the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh. Mindful
> even of small needs, Schopflocher supplied the beautifully embossed notes used in the Guardian’s
> official correspondence.
> 
> ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
> Schopflocher’s administrative contributions were extensive and varied. He served on the National
> Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, the chief governing council in North
> America (See: Administration, Bahá’í.Institutions of Bahá’í Administration.National Spiritual Assemblies),
> for fifteen years: 1924–27, 1929–35, and 1938–44 (when he was also the body’s assistant treasurer).
> He was a member and the treasurer of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada from its inception in
> 1948 until April 1953, shortly before his death. As the assembly’s treasurer, Schopflocher made a
> special point of writing affectionate notes of appreciation with every receipt. He was, moreover, careful
> that his own generous contributions did not stifle the participation of Bahá’ís in giving to the Bahá’í
> Fund.
> 
> Schopflocher played the crucial role in achieving the incorporation of the Canadian National Assembly
> by a special Act of Parliament in April 1949—an achievement twice hailed by Shoghi Effendi as "a
> unique victory in the annals of the Faith in the East, and West." 13 In 1952 Shoghi Effendi requested
> Schopflocher to assist the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada in establishing its National Bahá’í
> Center.
> 
> Schopflocher was on pilgrimage in Haifa in January 1952, shortly
> after Shoghi Effendi took a major step in developing the Hands
> of the Cause of God—an administrative institution established by
> Bahá’u’lláh—by appointing twelve individuals from around the
> world to serve as Hands. Schopflocher and fellow pilgrim Musa
> Banani, an Iranian residing in Africa, both heard from Shoghi
> Effendi himself the stunning news that he was appointing a
> second contingent of seven and that they would be among those
> named. Shoghi Effendi made the announcement to the Bahá’ís of
> the world on 29 February 1952.
> 
> Schopflocher traveled widely in Canada as a Hand of the Cause,
> The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the
> United States and Canada, early 1940s. Standing, l.
> speaking about Shoghi Effendi’s work and vision. In late April
> to r.: Leroy Ioas, Horace Holley, Louis G. Gregory,
> and early May 1953, Schopflocher attended the dedication of the
> Roy C. Wilhelm, Allen B. McDaniel. Seated, l. to r.:
> Siegfried Schopflocher, Dorothy Baker, Amelia E.
> Collins, George O. Latimer.           Wilmette Temple, to which he had made such outstanding
> contributions, and an All-America Intercontinental Teaching
> Conference held in Chicago immediately following the dedication. He traveled to the Bahá’í World Center
> in the summer of 1953 and looked forward to revisiting India to attend the New Delhi Bahá’í
> Intercon¬tinental Conference in October. Unfortunately, however, he became ill while returning to
> Montreal from Haifa. At home, his condition quickly worsened, and he passed away at 9:30 AM on 27
> July 1953. He was buried near the grave of Hand of the Cause of God Sutherland Maxwell in the Mount
> Royal Cemetery in Montreal. A cabled message from Shoghi Effendi reads in part:
> 
> Profoundly grieved at passing of dearly loved, outstandingly staunch Hand of Cause
> Fred Schopflocher. His numerous, magnificent services extending over thirty years in
> administrative and teaching spheres for United States, Canada, Institutions at Bahá’í
> World Center greatly enriched annals of Formative Age of Faith. Advising American
> National Assembly to hold befitting memorial gathering at Temple he generously
> helped raise. Advise holding memorial gathering at Maxwell home to commemorate
> his eminent part in rise of Administrative Order of Faith in Canada.14
> 
> PERSONAL QUALITIES
> Many accounts attest to Schopflocher’s distinguished personal characteristics. After meeting
> Schopflocher for the first time in 1924, Shoghi Effendi wrote the Bahá’ís of Canada, "In my hours of
> association with your beloved representative I could not but feel deeply impressed by the sweetness of
> his nature, his ardour, his humility and selflessness."15 The qualities Shoghi Effendi identified pervaded
> Schopflocher’s nature and remained unchanged by time and personal tragedy; the loss of much of his
> family during the Holocaust neither embittered nor hardened him.
> 
> An unobtrusive person, Schopflocher demonstrated a deep humility. One early Bahá’í recounts that,
> noting his "battered hat" and unassuming manner when he greeted her at the door of his mansion at
> 1904 Van Horne Avenue in Montreal, she mistook him for the janitor or doorman. In a second
> misunderstanding, thinking he was a grandfather, she had brought candy for his grandchildren. He
> corrected her impression and accepted the candy with grace, as if he had never before received a gift,
> saying that people expected him, as a millionaire, to give gifts, not receive them. 16
> 
> The Sunday brunches in his home became for many Bahá’ís a source of learning about love and service
> to others. By providing a taxi for anyone who needed it, Schopflocher always made sure that no Bahá’í,
> whatever the weather conditions in Montreal, would be deprived of attending. His great generosity
> benefited both the Bahá’í Cause and many individuals.
> 
> Schopflocher conveyed a spirit of egalitarianism that profoundly impressed those who came into contact
> with him. When making his customary three-day business trips from Montreal to his powder works in
> Malone, New York, he preferred to ride in the baggage car, playing cribbage with the railway workers. A
> number of railway workers and border guards attended his funeral.
> 
> Punctuality was a distinguishing feature of Schopflocher’s interactions with others. He was never late for
> a meeting and was often heard to say that he would rather be ten minutes early than one minute late.
> 
> John Robarts, a colleague on the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada in 1952 who was later also
> appointed a Hand of the Cause, recounted a memorable example of Schopflocher’s unassuming nature.
> On returning from his pilgrimage in 1952, after having learned of his appointment as a Hand but before
> the official announcement had been made, Schopflocher had attended a National Assembly meeting
> without mentioning his appointment. Later, after learning of the announcement, Robarts asked why
> Schopflocher had not shared the news with the Assembly. Schopflocher replied that it had not seemed
> important enough to mention. 17
> 
> Without ever allowing his station as a Hand of the Cause to
> diminish his deep humility, Schopflocher brought to his Bahá’í
> associations a clear appreciation of the institutions of the
> Guardianship and the Hands of the Cause of God. He was not a
> polished speaker, but his bearing and a "beautiful light" that
> "filled his eyes"18 made him seem eloquent. He inspired by his
> mere presence. Asked to address the Canadian national Bahá’í
> convention in April 1953 about what it meant to be a Hand of
> the Cause, Schopflocher spoke movingly, "the words . . . rising
> from the depths of his heart till he had all eyes filled with tears
> of deep feeling." 19 Finally, he began saying, "And the Guardian
> said . . ." but, with tears coursing down his cheeks, was unable
> to finish his talk.20
> 
> A year after Schopflocher’s death, a letter written on Shoghi
> Effendi’s behalf to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada
> paid tribute to the strengths of character that Schopflocher had
> demonstrated for more than three decades: "The loss of the
> dear Hand of the Cause, Freddie Schopflocher, is going to be
> much felt. He was so intensely loyal, so vigilant in watching over     Siegfried Schopflocher. National Bahá’í Archives,
> United States.
> the interests of the Faith, so steadfast and tenacious in serving
> it, that he will be much missed. . . ."21
> 
> Author: Will C. van den Hoonaard
> 
> © 2009 National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Terms of Use.
> .
> 
> Notes:
> 1. Lovell’s Montreal Directory for 1910 (Montreal: Lovell, n.d.) 518, 1768.
> 2. "The Roots of the Cause in the West: Our Dawnbreakers: Siegfried Schopflocher," Canadian Bahá’í News
> May 1966: 4.
> 3. Rosemary Sala, interview with Evelyn Raynor, n.d.
> 4. Shoghi Effendi, Messages to Canada, 2nd ed. (Thornhill, ON, Can.: Bahá’í Canada, 1999) 12.
> 5. Shoghi Effendi, Messages to Canada 12.
> 6. "Fred Schopflocher: Hand of the Cause of God," Canadian Bahá’í News, insert, Nov. 1953: n. pag.
> 7. [Shoghi Effendi], Letters from the Guardian to Australia and New Zealand, 1923–1957 (Sydney: National
> Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia, 1970) 17.
> 8. Horace Holley, "Survey of Current Bahá’í Activities in the East and West: International," The Bahá’í
> World, vol. 7: 1936–38 (New York: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1939) 41–42.
> 9. [Shoghi Effendi], Letters to Australia and New Zealand 17.
> 10. Shoghi Effendi, Dawn of a New Day [Messages to India] (New Delhi: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, n.d.
> [1970?]) 62.
> 11. Lena Scallion, interview with W. C. van den Hoonaard, 2 Aug. 1998.
> 12. Shoghi Effendi, Bahá’í Administration: Selected Messages, 1922–1932 , 1974 ed. (Wilmette, IL, USA:
> Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974, 1998 printing) 55.
> 13. Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahá’í World, 1950–1957 (Wilmette, IL, USA: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
> 1971, 1999 printing). See also Shoghi Effendi, Messages to Canada 111.
> 14. Shoghi Effendi, Citadel of Faith: Messages to America, 1947–1957 (Wilmette, IL, USA: Bahá’í Publishing
> Trust, 1965, 1999 printing) 169.
> 15. Shoghi Effendi, Messages to Canada 12–13.
> 16. Rena-Millie Gordon, interview with W. C. van den Hoonaard, 18 July 1990.
> 17. R. Ted Anderson, letter to National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada, 19 Apr. 1994.
> 18. Sala, interview with Raynor, n.d.
> 19. "The Roots of the Cause in the West: Our Dawnbreakers: Siegfried Schopflocher, Part II," Canadian
> Bahá’í News June 1966: 4.
> 20. Schopflocher quoted in Ilona Sala Weinstein, ed., Tending the Garden: The Edited Letters and Papers of
> Emeric and Rosemary Sala (New Liskeard, ON, Can.: White Mountain, 1998) 82.
> 21. Shoghi Effendi, Messages to Canada 203.
> 
> Understanding the Citations
> Citing Bahá’í Encyclopedia Project Articles
> 
> Other Sources and Related Reading:
> Published accounts: Schopflocher’s biography is published in The Bahá’í World, vol. 12: 1950–54 (Wilmette,
> IL, USA: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1956) 664–66. A series of his travel accounts, "Reflections of a Bahá’í
> Traveler," appears in Bahá’í Magazine: Star of the West 18 (1927–28): 237–42, 271–77, 307–14, 334–38,
> 381–77; and 19 (1928–29): 23–30. See also W. C. van den Hoonaard, The Origins of the Bahá’í
> Community of Canada, 1898–1948 (Waterloo, ON, Can.: Wilfrid Laurier UP, 1996); National Spiritual
> Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, The Bahá’í Centenary, 1844–1944 (Wilmette, IL,
> USA: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1944) 111, 180–85, 200–01; Bruce W. Whitmore, The Dawning Place:
> The Building of a Temple, The Forging of the North American Bahá’í Community (Wilmette, IL, USA: Bahá’í
> Publishing Trust, 1984) 131–32, 181, 198; Anne Gordon Perry et al., Green Acre on the Piscataqua: Second
> Edition Issued in Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty (Wilmette, IL, USA:
> Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 2005) 3, 73–74, 77, 107, 114, 130.
> Information on Lorol Schopflocher’s life and travels is derived from H. Harrison, ed., National Reference
> Book on Canadian Men and Women, 6th ed. (n.p.: Canadian Newspaper Services, 1940) 638–39; Lorol
> Schopflocher, Sunburst (London: Rider, 1937); her biography in The Bahá’í World, vol. 15: 1968–73 (Haifa:
> Bahá’í World Centre, 1976) 488–89; and Bahá’í Magazine: Star of the West 18 (1927–28) 90–96, 150–54,
> 186–91.
> Unpublished accounts: Interview by Carrie Jensen with Lily Ann Irwin, 6 Oct. 1982; and interviews by W. C.
> van den Hoonaard with Rowland Estall, 1992; Françoise Rouleau Smith, 26 May 1991; and Lillian Prosser,
> 17 July 1990. Email letter from Donald Schopflocher to W. C. van den Hoonaard, 21 July 1998; letter from
> Tom Schopflocher to W. C. van den Hoonaard, 3 Mar. 2000; email letter from Elke Seidel, City Archives of
> Fürth, to W. C. van den Hoonaard, 27 July 2000. Research information from the City Archives of Fürth and
> photographs from Fürth were provided by Paula van den Boogaart and Joachim Schuster. Other archival
> information has been compiled by the Bahá’í Encyclopedia Project staff.
> 
> Understanding the Citations
> Citing Bahá’í Encyclopedia Project Articles
>
> — *Schopflocher, Siegfried (Used by permission of the curator)*