Sam Flax, circa 1979

Sam [Afsey] Flax (1887-1979, SSI) was born in Kovna, Russia to a large family. He originally intended to study at a local yeshiva, but had to leave for America in 1905 due to Czarist persecution. Flax spent eleven months in New York before following his sweetheart Bertha and her family to Cripple Creek, Colorado. Sam and Bertha were married in Cripple Creek on August 1, 1909. They went back to New York for a brief period, but after finding little success, returned west to Denver, Colorado, where Sam worked as a bartender in the Navarre Restaurant. During Prohibition, the couple moved again to Newcastle, Wyoming, but returned again to Denver to be with a greater Jewish community. When they finally settled in Colorado, Sam invested and became the owner of hotels and apartment houses throughout the city.