Kiesler and Rifkin Families Papers

East European Jewish immigrant, Adolph Kiesler, became a noted Colorado philanthropist. Born in Rumania in 1880, Kiesler settled in Denver's West Colfax Jewish neighborhood at the turn of the century, when he began as a peddler. He later recalled "I worked for fifteen cents a day at odd jobs, and then I got a job carring coal for seventy-five cents a ton." Like so many immigrants, he scrimped and saved and after fifteen years and a variety of jobs, he had saved enough money to launch the Peerless Alloy Company in 1909. By the end of the 1950s, operating under his mott, "Money is made to give away," he had contributed almost two million dollars to local Jewish and community institutions such as Beth Israel Hospital, the JCRS, the Allied Jewish Community Fund, and the University of Denver, and was a staunch supporter of the early State of Israel. Adolph Kiesler died in Denver on December 19, 1967. His daughter Raisie married Max Rifkin in 1940 and the couple had four daughters in Denver. The collection contains correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, newsclippings, awards and memorials, and documents.