1865 On The 24^th of August Ferdinand I, King of Romania, Prince of Romania, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was born as Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meirad von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Born in Sigmaringen, in the South-West of Germany, Roman Catholic Prince, Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was the son of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and of Infant Antonia of Portugal, Maria II and Ferdinand (Prince of Saxa-Coburg and Gotha) II’s daughter.

1888 Young Ferdinand became his uncle’s heir, King Carol of Romania, on November, after his father had given up and then his elder brother, Wilhelm, in 1886.

1889 Romanian Parliament recognized him as Prince of Romania. Romanian Government did not ask his conversion from Catholicism to Orthodoxism, but it asked his next sons to be Orthodox, Romania’s state religion.

He had an idyll with the poetess Elena Vacarescu, Queen Elisabeth’s bridesmaid (a relationship that was interrupted by Council of Ministers that reminded to the Prince that the Royal Family’s members could marry only to Princesses of foreign origin).

1890 He was an Honorary Member of Romanian Academy.

1893 On the 10^th of January, Prince Ferdinand married to Princess Maria of Edinburgh, the niece of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Together they had three sons and three daughters, the eldest son, baptized Carol, would become King Carol II of Romania.

On July 24, the Queen's body was buried in the episcopal church of Curtea de Arges, in the necropolis of the royal family, along with his husband, King Ferdinand, and according to the last wish entered in the will, Mary wanted his heart to be removed from the chest and placed in a silver box on Romanian soil. This box was wrapped in the flags of Romania and England and was initially deposited in the church of the Cotroceni monastery, then taken to the Balchik Castle where it was deposited in the orthodox chapel "Stella Maris", a chapel built by Queen Maria.

But with the Cadrilater's transfer to Bulgaria in September 1940, the queen's heart box was taken from Balchik and deposited, at the request of Princess Ileana, in a branch of a Bran Castle. It was only in 1968 that the box of the heart of Queen Maria was deposited in Bran Castle, and since 1971 it has been brought and exhibited at the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest. The Queen Mary's heart box is now being deposited at the Pelişor Castle in Sinaia, in the Golden Room, the place where, for 80 years, it was the last time to be beaten on 18 July 1938 at 17.38. Memoirs of Yesterday "manages to synthesize in a few words the role of the Queen Mary and the place she deserves in history:" Whatever mistakes Queen Mary will have committed before and after the war, her war remains its page, a page with which she can blame, page that will sit in history to honor. We find her in the trenches among the combatants in the ranks advanced, we find her in the hospitals and all the sanitary posts among the wounded and sick. We find it at all the meetings that were trying to do a little good. She did not know the fear of bullets and bombs, as she did not know the fear and mourning of the plague, or her impatience with the often unnecessary efforts of her desire for the better. Queen Mary fulfilled her duty on all fronts of her activities, but above all that of encouraging and raising the morale of those who surrounded her and who had to decide the fate of the country and her people in the most tragic moments. It can be said that, during our wanderings in Moldova, Queen Maria embodied the highest aspirations of Romanian consciousness. By the way in 1916 influenced Romania's entry into war and again in 1918, when almost only thanks to it, King Ferdinand did not ratify the disastrous peace in Bucharest, the queen settled as a founder of Romania, and as one of the greatest figures of our national history. "  R.T. Stan says: "Queen Maria! Queen Poet! The most beautiful queen in the world! The most skillful and wise of the women who once had the mission to write history. The most tumultuous existence, but also the most beautiful apotheosis: the fulfillment of the expensive dream, warmed to the chest and bathed in tears, with its surmounts and goblins! Everything has been written and written, for life so full of beauty, hope for the ideal, a fierce strain for good, so passionately loved by deed, will not be seen soon. "

 

Queen Mary: "I bless you, my beloved Romania, the land of my joys and pains, a beautiful country that you have lived in my heart and whose path I have known all. A beautiful country I have seen complete, whose fate has been allowed me to see it fulfilled. Be thou eternally abundant, be great and honorable, to stand forever among the nations, to be honest, loved, and understanding. "

(İzzet Baysal’ın çok beğendiği ve mutlu bir hayat için herkese tavsiye ettiği anonim sözler)

Baysal started his career as a civil servant, and then became an industrialist by founding the Temper Casting Factory in 1949. He played a leading role for the development of casting industry in Turkey. For many years, he was in the top-ten list for paying income tax in Istanbul.He founded the “Izzet Baysal Foundation” in 1987, which he considered as his greatest achievement, by earmarking from his tax-deduced wealth.

Up to the calendar year of 2010, Izzet Baysal Foundation materialised 127 charity projects (of which the 127th is in the process of making). The investment for these projects is 262.416.844 TL according to the present value of 2010.

The charities of Izzet Baysal range from village clinics to fully-equipped hospitals, from mosques to rest homes, from kindergartens to universities.

A child attending the kindergarten established by the Foundation can get education in the Izzet Baysal Foundation’s primary and secondary schools, university, even up to the level of PhD, and can stay in their rest homes when he/she is old. With his charitable character, Izzet Baysal has won a special place in the heart of the people.

In 1994, he was honoured with the “Grand Service Medal of Turkish Republic” by the President Süleyman Demirel. The senates of Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, METU, Mimar Sinan University, Hacettepe University, and Anadolu University have given him Honorary Doctorates in “Education”. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey has given the Izzet Baysal Foundation the “Grand Service Reward” in 2006.

Since 1990, “Izzet Baysal Thanksgiving Days, and Science, Culture, Art and Tourism Festival” is held every year starting on 11th May for duration of three days coordinated by the province, municipality and Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University.

The people of Bolu have given him the title of “Father of Bolu”. The main street of the city is named after him as “Izzet Baysal Street” and also one neighbourhood in Bolu and Gerede each was named as “Izzet Baysal”. His statues were erected in the city centre of Bolu and in the University in his lifetime.

When asked which of his charities was most meaningful and valuable, the Grand Benefactor Izzet Baysal replied “the love in the eyes of the youth and people of Bolu that I feel is worth all of my charities” and addressed the youth whom he loved passionately “Dear youth; I owe the things I have been able to offer you to honest and ardent work that I did all my life, to live thriftily, and to perseverance. I believe that you will be able to reach the same opportunities with the same ideals as I have had. I believe heartily that many more Baysals will emerge out of you and that I love you”. He also addressed the people of Bolu by saying “Dear people of Bolu, this Foundation is yours, protect it”.

Izzet Baysal passed away on 5th March 2000 in Istanbul. He was laid to rest, with his own wish and the special decree issued by the Assembly of Ministers, in the Campus of Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, amongst the youth of the University and to the heart of the people whom he loved most.

İş hayatına devlet memuru olarak başlayan Baysal, 1949 yılında Temper Döküm Fabrikası’nı kurarak sanayiciliğe başladı. Türkiye’de döküm sanayisinin gelişmesinde öncü rolü oynadı. Yıllarca İstanbul’da en fazla gelir vergisi veren ilk on kişi arasında yer aldı.

"En büyük eserimdir" dediği İzzet Baysal Vakfı’nı, vergisi ödenmiş kazançlarından tahsis ederek 1987 yılında kurdu.

İzzet Baysal Vakfı 2016 yılına kadar 140 tesis meydana getirmiştir. Bu tesislerin maliyeti 2016 rayiç değeriyle 440.000.000 TL dir.

İzzet Baysal’ın yaptırdığı hayırlar, köy sağlık evlerinden tam teşekküllü hastanelere, camilerden huzurevlerine, kreşlerden üniversiteye kadar uzanır.

Baysalların yaptırdığı kreşe giren bir çocuk; ilk, orta, üniversite hatta doktora seviyesine kadar vakfın eserlerinde eğitim görebilir, yaşlılıkta huzurevinde kalabilir. Bu yardımseverliği İzzet Baysal’a halkımızın gönlünde özel bir yer kazandırmıştır.

1994 yılında Cumhurbaşkanı Süleyman Demirel tarafından "TC Devlet Üstün Hizmet Madalyası" ile onurlandırılmıştır. Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi, ODTÜ, Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi, Hacettepe Üniversitesi ve Anadolu Üniversitesi senatoları "Eğitimde Onursal Doktora" payesi vermiştir. TBMM 2006 Yılında İzzet Baysal Vakfına TBMM Üstün Hizmet Ödülü vermiştir.

1990 yılından bu yana, her 11 Mayıs’ta Valilik, Belediye ve Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi’nin ortak girişimleriyle "İzzet Baysal Şükran Günleri Bilim, Kültür, Sanat ve Turizm Festivali" olarak 3 gün süre ile düzenlenmiş,13 Mayıs 2012 tarihinde Bolu Ticaret ve Sanayi odasında yapılan toplantıda alınan karar gereği ve Bolu Valiliğinin 24.01.2013 tarihli yazıları gereği 2013 yılından itibaren bu kutlamalar Bolu Kent Konseyi tarafından organize edilecek, Valilik, Belediye ve Üniversite ile diğer kurum ve kuruluşlar gerekli desteği sağlayacaklardır.

Bolulular, İzzet Baysal’a "Bolu’nun Babası" unvanını vermiştir. Şehrin en işlek caddesine "İzzet Baysal Caddesi" ayrıca Bolu ve Gerede’de birer mahalleye "İzzet Baysal Mahallesi" ismi verilmiştir. Kentin en merkezi yerine ve Üniversite kampüsüne sağlığında heykeli dikilmiştir.

Büyük hayırsever İzzet Baysal’a, hayatı boyunca yaptığı hayırlardan hangisinin daha anlamlı ve değerli olduğu sorulduğunda; "Halkımızın ve gençlerimizin bakışlarında hissettiğim sevgi, bunların hepsine bedeldir." cevabını vermiş ve çok sevdiği gençlere şöyle seslenmiştir: “Sevgili gençler; size sunabildiğim bu imkanları dürüst ve gayretli çalışmaya, tasarruflu davranmaya ve sebatkar olabilmeye borçluyum. Sizin de aynı ilkelerle benzer imkanlara erişebileceğinizden eminim.”, “Sevgili gençler! içinizden nice Baysal’lar çıkacağına yürekten inanıyor ve sizleri seviyorum.”, Bolululara ise; Bolulular, bu vakıf sizindir ona sahip çıkınız.” demiştir.

İzzet Baysal, 5 Mart 2000 tarihinde İstanbul’da hayata gözlerini kapatmıştır. Muazzam bir katılımla, kendi isteği ve Bakanlar Kurulu kararı ile kampüsteki anıtmezarına, çok sevdiği üniversite gençliğinin ve halkımızın kalbine defnedilmiştir.