tanner, businessman, b. Hechingen, Germany. He learned the tanning business in Germany, and in 1845 migrated to the U.S., settling first in Buffalo, N.Y. In 1847 he moved to Milwaukee, and there established a leather store, which in 1853 became the Guido Pfister Tanning Co. In 1872 the firm name was changed to the Pfister and Vogel Leather Co., and for a number of years it was one of the largest leather companies in the Midwest. Pfister was also instrumental in constructing a canal system in the Menomonee River valley, and for a time operated a large branch tannery in Manitowoc County. He spent the remainder of his life in Milwaukee and had many other business interests; he was a director of the Milwaukee and Northern R.R. Co., the Milwaukee Merchandise Insurance Co., and the Northwestern National Insurance Co., was president of the German Exchange Bank, and a trustee of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. H. L. Conard, ed., Hist. of Milwaukee (3 vols., Chicago [1896]); B. Still, Milwaukee (Madison, 1948); Milwaukee Sentinel, Feb. 3, 1889; WPA MS.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]