Michal Bosák

(*10 December 1869 in Okrúhle – †18 February 1937 in Scranton, USA)

He emigrated to the USA at the age of sixteen in 1886. He worked in a mine in Hazleton and then he carted beer in Freeland. In 1893 he and his wife settled down in Olyphant and opened first an inn, and later a wine wholesale business. Four years later, Bosak established a private bank and a travel agency selling ship tickets. Soon he became the main shareholder of the First National Bank in Olyphant, and at the age of 33 he was a member of the bank's administrative board and its president. The First National Bank was one of the banks to which the American Administration granted the right to issue banknotes, and Bosák, as its president, signed the 5, 10 and 20 US dollar banknotes issued by the bank. In 1912 he established the Slavonic Deposits Bank in Wilkes - Barre where he was president for four years. Three years later he established his own bank under the name Bosak State Bank in Scranton which became the biggest Slovak bank in the USA in 1920. The bank’s success brought Bosak widespread recognition of the US financial sector and several American banks made him a director. He gained a reputation as a competent bank manager.

During the First World War, he deeply involved himself in the fight for the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia; he organised collections and added his signature under the well-known Pittsburgh Agreement on 30 May 1918. Later, he became involved in the economic life of Slovakia and his activities culminated in 1920 with the establishment of Americko-slovenská banka based in Bratislava.