Lucian Brunner was born in Hohenems on September 29, 1850, the son of Marco Brunner and Regina Brettauer. In 1883 he joined the banking house Jacob Brunner in St. Gallen as a partner. From 1889 he lived in Vienna and as a liberal he was a member of the Vienna City Council from 1896 to 1901. Brunner was considered an eloquent opponent of the Christian Social majority around mayor Karl Lueger in Vienna. He achieved fame through his lawsuit against an illegal church building subsidy, which the municipal council under Lueger had decided. He thus defended the constitutionally guaranteed separation of church and state, which at the same time made him a popular target for anti-Semitic attacks. Brunner stood up against the growing nationalism in the Habsburg Empire, but later supported the Zionist movement out of disappointment at the decline of liberalism, which earned him the mockery of Karl Kraus.
Brunner remained attached to his home community of Hohenems and tried several times to initiate the construction of tramways in Hohenems and Vorarlberg. When he died in April 1914 in Vienna, he left a considerable legacy for the foundation of a non-denominational school in Hohenems. The local council rejected the legacy.

Photo: Lucian Brunner with his first wife Malvine Mandel, 1884