Lion Philips

Lion Philips 29 October 1794 – 28 December 1866 was a Dutch tobacco merchant. He is a grandfather of Gerard together with Anton Philips of Philips Electronics, as well as was an important financial supporter of Karl Marx.

Career

In 1815, Lion as well as a partner, Gerlacus Ribbius Peletier, started a tobacco company, "The Unicorn". The successors of this organization remained active in the tobacco trade until thehalf of the twentieth century.[] In addition to trading tobacco, the Philips pursued other businesses, including a blanket factory, which later burned down. At the time of his death in 1866, his capital was estimated at around NLG 189,000.