Wilhelm August Fredrik Röhss

He belonged to a family of merchants in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. His father was Johan Gottlob Röhss, a book dealer. Wilhelm August Fredrik Röhss started his career as a pharmacist but changed his occupation to trade with Scandinavia. He settled in Gothenburg in 1827, where he helped the merchant Johan Gabriel Grönwall in establishing a dyeing plant at the river Mölndalsån. Röhss married Grönwall's granddaughter in 1831. After Grönwall retired in 1839, Röhss took over his trade and shipping business, in addition to other businesses. After his death in 1858, Wilhelm Röhss's business was taken over by his widow and two sons, Carl Wilhelm Christian Röhss (Wilhelm Röhss the younger; 1834-1900) and Johan August Anders Röhss (known as August; 1836-1904).

He conducted trade and shipping on a large scale and owned a brewery and factories for cotton, sugar, paper, among other things. His two sons continued industrial activities, and invested in iron works in Värmland and in saws in the booming timber industry in Norrland.