Irene Miller Stein Family Objects, Artwork, and Other Material

Irene Miller (Mrs. Azriel) Stein was born in Denver, Colo. in 1894 and died in Aurora, Colorado in 2000 at the age of 106. She was the daughter of Anna and Robert Lazar Miller, both pioneers of Denver's Jewish community. Robert Lazar Miller was born in Vilna, Lithuania, in about 1845. He married Anna Weinstein in Lithuania and came to America in the late 1870s, following his brother Joe. In about 1878, Robert Lazar Miller moved to Denver and opened a kosher butcher shop at 1128 Larimer street. He then brought his wife, eldest children, and his parents to Denver. His mother Bessie died after World War I at the age of 102. Robert Lazar Miller bought and sold cattle and later became chief buyer for K and B Packing Company (headed by Louis Sigman) when he was 71. He continued in that job and rode his horse daily at the Union Stockyards until his death at 96 in July of 1940.

Irene Stein was a professional artist well into her 90s. She worked in many different media and styles, from art-deco in the 1920s and 1930s to modern, abstract sculptures and computer generated art in the 1970s and 1980s. She attended the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1921 she married Azriel Stein, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1896 and moved to Denver with his family at the age of 14. Azriel ''Azie'' Stein, and his brother-in-law Joe Peterman (Sophie Miller's husband), founded, owned, and operated Pencol Drug Store on the corner of Pennsylvania Street and Colfax Avenue in Denver. Irene and Azriel's son Stanley was born in 1928. Azriel Stein died in 1976.