Felix Calonder

Felix Louis Calonder (December 7, 1863 – June 14, 1952) was a Swiss politician, member of the Swiss Federal Council from 1913 to 1920, and President of the Confederation in 1918. He was affiliated to the Free Democratic Party. During his tenure of office, he held the Department of Home Affairs from 1913 to 1917, and the Political Department from 1918 to 1919. As of 2017, Felix Calonder has been the Federal Council's only native Romansh speaker.

Calonder was born in Scuol in the Engadin valley, the son of a master builder from Trin. When Calonder was six years old, his family moved to Trin, where he went to elementary school. From 1878 to 1881 Calonder visited the cantonal school in Chur. He dropped out, worked as a commercial trainée for three years, and didn't graduate with a Matura until 1885 in Zurich. He studied law in Zurich, Munich, Paris, and Bern, where he submitted his doctoral thesis on international law in 1889. He was active in the student corporation "Zofingia", and became a militia officer and judge in the Swiss Armed Forces.

After completing his studies, Calonder returned to Chur, where he worked as a court secretary, and later established his own partnership in a lawyer's office. In 1892, he married Ursulina Walther, with whom he had three children.

In 1891, Calonder was elected to the Grisons' cantonal legislative (cussegl grond) where he represented the Free Democrats, and kept his mandate until 1913. He unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the cantonal executive (regenza) in 1893. By the late 1890s, he had gained a reputation in transport policy; his struggle for an eastern alpine railway and his lobbying for federal subsidies to the Rhätische Bahn's narrow gauge system helped him win his party one of the Grisons' two seats in the Swiss Council of States in 1899. During his tenure in the Council of States, he was given the mandate to negotiate an agreement with the Grand Duchy of Baden regarding the usage of the Rhine for ship transport and hydropower. He presided the Council of States for the 1911/1912 term.

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