Karl Otto Georg von Meck

Baron Karl von Meck came from an old Baltic-German noble family originally from Silesia.

His father was major Otto Adam von Meck, a customs officer in Riga.

Karl von Meck persevered and in 1863 found work with the new Moscow-Ryazan Railway Association.

The Chairman of the Board appointed von Meck as the main contractor and the road was built over a year and a half, and made an enormous profit.

After his death his widow, Nadezhda von Meck, provided invaluable assistance to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.