ADOR, GUSTAVE Swiss statesman, was born at Geneva, Dec. 23, 1845, of a Vaudois family established there in 1814. He studied law at the academy and in 1868 became an advocate. He served his apprenticeship to politics in the cantonal government and was president of the cantonal executive in 1892 and 1906. From 1889 to 1917 he was a member of the Swiss National Council, of which he was president in 1901.
Ador gained an international reputation for the hard and dis interested work he did for the International Red Cross. He had become president of the committee four years before the World War, and when it broke out he founded an association at Geneva for facilitating communications between prisoners of war and their families and for alleviating their condition. A central agency for forwarding parcels and letters was established.
In June 1917, after the enforced resignation of Arthur Hoff mann, Ador became a member of the executive of the Swiss Federation with the portfolio of Foreign Affairs. Toward the end of 1918 he was elected president of the Swiss Federation; he retired at the end of his year of office. He headed the Swiss delegation which visited Paris and London in Jan.-Feb. 1920 to secure a reservation of the principle of the neutrality of Switzer land when she joined the League of Nations. He did important work for the League itself, first as president of the Brussels Conference of 1920 and then as president of the Economic and Financial Commission. He represented Switzerland at the various Assemblies of the League of Nations until 1924, when he retired on the ground of advancing age, although he still con tinued his Red Cross work. He died at Geneva on March 31, 1928. His funeral was a national ceremony, and was held in Geneva Cathedral.