Levy, Jack H., 1908-1985
Biography
Jack Levy was born in Haigerloch, Germany, on September 6, 1908, to Raphael and Bertha Hilb Levy. Jack's uncle, Isidore Hilb, came to Denver in the early 1900s and founded Hilb and Company, a wholesale clothing supply business. At the age of fourteen, Jack Levy came to Denver in 1923 to work at his uncle's company as a salesman. Fashion Bar stores began with a small hosiery shop started by Jack Levy in 1933 and managed by his sister Hannah Levy. Fashion Bar became the largest privately owned chain in Colorado by the 1980s. In Germany, the Rosenthals and the Levys were friends. Alice Rosenthal wrote Jack Levy to ask that he sponsor her for immigration to America. He did, and they were married the same year he began the hosiery shop. The couple became parents to three children. Jack Levy supported many Jewish, civic, and cultural causes, including Temple Emanuel, Rose Hospital, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the Denver Symphony, Jewish Community Center, and the University of Denver's Holocaust Awareness Institute. Jack Levy died on April 6, 1985.
Citation
Not found in LCNAF or VIAF. mmata 2016-10-26 Sources: https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=268 (article by Jeanne Abrams (2016). Tales of a Little Trunk by Hannah Shwayder Berry. Obituaries.
Found in 7 Collections and/or Records:
Box 6, 1938-1993
(7) file folders include: photographs of Fashion Bar buildings, events, logo images, employees, and Hannah and Jack Levy. Photos of trips to Hong Kong, Italy and Israel with Golda Meir. Also a photo with May D and F visible.
Box 11, 1980-1990
(1) framed interview with Hannah Levy; (1) framed governor's proclomation of Jack Levy day; (1) news article honoring Jack Levy at Rose Celebration, mounted on wood.
Box 12, 1900-1993
(1) framed photo of Denver Street James Hotel, future site of first Fashion Bar store (c. 1900); (1) framed photo portrait of Jack Levy (c. 1970).
Fashion Bar and Levy Family Papers
Levy Family Portrait, circa 1929
Bertha and Raphael Levy stand in the center, surrounded by their children. Jack and Hannah stand to Bertha's right, and Edward Levy is to Raphael's left. Kate and Ruth Levy are sitting in the grass. This photograph was taken in Denver, Colorado. Hannah and Jack Levy were the founders of the Fashion Bar retail women's clothing stores throughout Colorado.
Oral History Interview with Emmett Heitler, 1978 October 23
Topics covered include family history in Denver (6 generations at time of interview), mechanical engineer but when no work during depression worked as a hosiery salesmen with Jack Levy; married Dorothy Schwayder (daughter of Jesse Schwayder, founder of Samsonite). Time on NJH board and joining the Community Chest, move from Tuberculosis focus to asthma, medicine, merging and expanding facilities.
Wedding of Kate Levy Zigmond, 1939
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