Friedrich Schey was the son of a wealthy Jewish owner of a
trading company in Güns (now
Kőszeg). He attended high school in his hometown and then studied law at the
Lyceum in
Ödenburg and in 1831/1832 at the
Polytechnicum Vienna. In 1835 he worked for the Wertheimstein banking house in Vienna, but returned to Güns, where he joined his parents' business. In 1839 he married Emilie Landauer (1817-1840) and became a partner in his father-in-law's business. After the death of his first wife, Schey married her sister Charlotte Landauer (1820-1842) in 1840 and, four years after her death, the Landauer daughter Hermine (1822-1902). From this marriage came his son, the jurist (1853-1938). Friedrich Schey went to Vienna after the death of his father-in-law, became director of the
Vöslauer Kammgarnfabrik in 1854, and founded the "Firma Schey, k. k. priv. Großhändler," which traded in textiles and conducted money transactions. He was banker to
Archduke Albrecht and through this contact became a supplier to the
Imperial Army. In 1857 he was one of the co-founders of the
Vienna Business Academy and was its first president. In 1859, together with his uncle,
Philipp Schey (1798-1881), under the honorific
Edler as well as the
preposition of
von Koromla; In 1860 he received the
civil and political rights of the city of Vienna. From 1859 he was a member of the board of directors of the
Lower Austrian Escompte Society for two years and, with an interruption in 1866, was director of the
Austrian National Bank from 1861 to 1869. In 1863, Schey von Koromla was elevated to
knighthood. He had the
Palais Schey von Koromla built in 1863/1864. In 1865, he was appointed to the board of directors of the
Securitas reinsurance company and was its vice president from 1869. He was a member of the board of directors of the
Theissbahn from its foundation in 1856, became president of the
Empress Elisabeth Railway in 1861, and led the negotiations for its nationalization, which was finally completed in 1884. Schey von Koromla was considered a good violinist and amassed a collection of books. He sponsored the
Vienna Municipal Theater, of which he was president, the construction of the
Vienna Musikverein, the
Künstlerhaus Wien, contributed to the financing of the
Austrian-Hungarian North Pole Expedition, and the erection of a number of monuments in Vienna. In 1862, Friedrich Schey von Koromla received the
Order of the Iron Crown Third Class and decorations from Prussia, France, Russia, Brazil, Mexico and other countries. He now rests in the family tomb in the Israelite section of the
Wiener Zentralfriedhof. ==References==