Aristide Blank

Aristide or Aristid Blank, also spelled Blanc or Blanck, was a Romanian financier, economist, arts patron and playwright. His father, Mauriciu Blank, an assimilated and naturalized Romanian Jew, was manager of the Marmorosch Blank Bank (BMB), a major financial enterprise. Aristide took up jobs within the same company, and introduced various new ideas for development with a series of pamphlets. He was drafted as a junior officer in the Second Balkan War and again in World War I, though he did not see action during the latter; instead, he advanced causes related to Romanian nationalism, as well as his own agenda, in the Russian Republic, in the Far East, and eventually in France. He also began expanding BMB investments, branching out into maritime transport and founding CFRNA/CIDNA airlines. This period witnessed his attempt at setting up a press empire around the twin dailies Adevărul and Dimineața, and his brief engagement with Epoca.