Tivadar Rombauer

* Levoca, January 27, 1803 – † New-Buda–Davenport, November 12, 1855 / smelter engineer ; ; He spent his childhood in Prékopa, Turóc County, and completed his primary education privately. In 1811, he started high school in Levoca, but graduated from the Evangelical Lyceum in Selmecbánya with excellent results in 1822. In Selmecbánya, he obtained a mining engineer's diploma from the Mining Academy in 1825. He began his practical work in Rohonc, then continued as director of the alum works at the Schöborn Count's estate near Munkács. Later, he also contributed to the development of ironworks; in 1829–1832, the Selesztó blast furnace was built under his direction, where pig iron was produced and artistic castings were also made. After a longer stay abroad, he became the head of the Rimai Coalitio in 1843 and in this position he implemented extensive modernization and infrastructural development, thanks to which production increased significantly in a short time. On his initiative, the Gömöri Vasművelő Egyesület was founded in Rimaszombat in 1845, the aim of which was to set up an iron refinery operated jointly by the metallurgical enterprises existing in Gömör. He played a major role in the establishment of the Ózd ironworks. In 1848, he was the head of the industrial department in the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Trade, the director of the National Weapons Factory established in Pest, and the central administrator of the affairs of munitions production. After the fall of Pest, in January 1849, he relocated his factory to Oradea. After the fall of the War of Independence, he emigrated to North America – under adventurous circumstances – and settled in New-Buda, a Hungarian-founded town near Davenport, in the spring of 1850. He also wanted to deal with iron and mining issues in America, and even traveled to South America for this purpose. He eventually took up farming, but he found this monotonous life difficult. In his last years, he was the editor of the German newspaper Der Demokrat published in Davenport. He had ten children (five girls and five boys) from his marriage to his cousin Berta Rombauer.