Siegfried Schopflocher (1877 - 1953)

Siegfried Schopflocher, or Fred Schopflocher, as he was commonly called, was born in Germany in 1877 of Jewish parentage. He was brought up along orthodox Jewish lines but, after leaving school, ceased to follow the customs of his faith and leaned towards an agnosticism which included a search for a more universal expression of religion. Years later, after having become permanently settled in business in Canada, Mr. Schopflocher heard of the Bahá’í Faith and, shortly thereafter, became a Bahá’í.

In 1922, Mr. Schopflocher made his first visit to Haifa, which was the beginning of many journeys to the World Centre of the Faith. His devotion to the Guardian was immediate and lasting and, for several of his international tours, the Guardian gave him specific assignments to carry out. His trips, usually undertaken in conjunction with his business, took him to every corner of the globe, where he was able to visit Bahá’í communities and appreciate first-hand the extraordinary bond linking the believers throughout the world in their love for a common Cause. Normally, as Mr. Schopflocher had said, it would have been impossible for a Westerner to make contact with so wide a variety of peoples in the East and West, especially on such short and relatively infrequent visits to so many places; but the worldwide community of the believers destroyed all barriers.

At various times between 1924 and 1947, Mr. Schopflocher served a total of 15 years as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. When the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada was formed as an independent administrative body in 1948, Mr. Schopflocher was elected a member and served continuously on that body till 1953. It was chiefly through his efforts, with the able assistance of Mr. Horace Holley, that the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada secured a unique form of incorporation by an Act of the Parliament of Canada.

Of the many international services to the Bahá’í Faith rendered by Mr. Schopflocher over the last 30 years of his life, perhaps none is more enduring than his contribution to the completion of the Bahá’í House of Worship for North America in Wilmette, Illinois. Mr. Schopflocher understood early on the significance of the Temple and, through numerous visits to the Guardian, realized its importance to the growth of the Bahá’í Faith. It was after one of these visits to Haifa that Mr. Schopflocher arrived at a National Bahá’í Convention in Wilmette and renewed the assembly’s enthusiasm for resuming construction on the exterior ornamentation of the Temple. It was for this service that the Guardian called Fred Schopflocher “the Chief Temple Builder.”

In 1952, Mr. Schopflocher was appointed a Hand of the Cause of God, which coincided with the Guardian’s instructions that he assist the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada with its establishment of a National Centre.

Mr. Schopflocher had a deep affection for the people of India. He had been eagerly looking forward to attending a New Delhi conference in 1953, but it was not to be. He passed away that year in Montreal on July 27 after a few days’ illness. Burial was made, at the Guardian’s request, close to the grave of William Sutherland Maxwell, the first Canadian Hand of the Cause.

* Adapted from Bahá’í World, Vol. 12, 1950-1954, “In Memoriam,” pp. 664-6.