Arlene Hirschfeld | |
---|---|
Born | Arlene Friedman 1944 (age 79–80) Denver, Colorado, US |
Education | B.A. English, University of Denver, 1966 |
Occupation | Community activist |
Years active | 1980s–present |
Spouse | A. Barry Hirschfeld |
Children | 2 |
Awards | Colorado Women's Hall of Fame, 2006 |
Arlene Hirschfeld (born 1944) is an American community activist. Since the 1980s, she has served on the board of trustees of numerous Denver and Colorado state organizations, working in advisory, leadership, and fundraising capacities. [1] The recipient of numerous awards, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2006.
Arlene Friedman [2] was born in 1944 in Denver, Colorado. [3] She earned her B.A. in English from the University of Denver in 1966. [4]
From 1966 to 1970, she taught English at the Abraham Lincoln High School in Denver, also serving as an American Field Service sponsor. [4] [5]
Hirschfeld became active in local and state organizations and nonprofits on an almost full-time basis [3] beginning in the 1980s. She is a member of the board of trustees of the Denver Art Museum, [6] the MDC Richmond American Homes Foundation, the Children's Diabetes Foundation of Denver, Breathe Better Foundation, the Mizel Museum, and the Colorado Governor's Residence Preservation Fund. [5] [7] She is an honorary trustee of the Women's Foundation of Colorado, and an emeritus member of the board of trustees of the Anti-Defamation League. [1] [7]
She was the first Jewish president of the Junior League of Denver (1986–1987), and the first woman board chair for the Rose Community Foundation (2006–2008). [1] [3] [7] She also chaired the Allied Jewish Federation (now JewishColorado). [1] As a member of the steering committee of the Dean's Council at Harvard Divinity School, she was involved in raising $1 million to endow one of the five scholars of that university's Women's Studies in Religion Program. [3]
Hirschfeld has received many awards, including the 1991 Community Service Award from the University of Denver, [2] the 1997 Denver Women of Distinction award from Girl Scouts of Colorado, [8] the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the 2002 Rex Morgan Award, [9] the 2003 Colorado Philanthropy Day Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser Award, [10] and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Business Social Responsibility Award. [3] She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2006. [1] [3] She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Metro Volunteers in 2015. [11] She and her husband were the 2018 recipients of the Community Service in the Arts Award from the Bonfils–Stanton Foundation. [7]
She married A. Barry Hirschfeld, an MBA graduate of the University of Denver, in 1966. [4] They have two sons. [3] Barry became the owner of A. B. Hirschfeld Press (later known as National Hirschfeld, closed in 2009 [12] ) founded by his grandfather in 1907, and A. B. Hirschfeld & Sons, a real estate company. [4] [13] In the mid-1970s, the couple purchased Shangri-La, an 8,000-square-foot (740 m2) Denver mansion built by movie theater owner Harry E. Huffman as a replica of the monastery featured in the 1937 film Lost Horizon . [14] [15] [16]
Frances Jacobs was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, to Jewish Bavarian immigrants and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. She married Abraham Jacobs, the partner of her brother Jacob, and came west with him to Colorado where Wisebart and Jacobs had established businesses in Denver and Central City. In Denver, Frances Jacobs became a driving force for the city's charitable organizations and activities, with national exposure. Among the philanthropical organizations she founded, she is best remembered as a founder of the United Way and the Denver's Jewish Hospital Association.
Larry A. Mizel is an American business executive and philanthropist based in Denver, Colorado. He is executive chairman of MDC Holdings.
Philippa "Pippa" Marrack, FRS is an English immunologist and academic, based in the United States, best known for her research and discoveries pertaining to T cells. Marrack is the Ida and Cecil Green Professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Research at National Jewish Health and a distinguished professor of immunology and microbiology at the University of Colorado Denver.
Elizabeth Morley Cowles Gale Ballantine, known as Morley Cowles Ballantine, was an American newspaper publisher, editor, philanthropist, and women's rights activist. Scion of an Iowan newspaper publishing family, she and her second husband, Arthur A. Ballantine, purchased two Durango, Colorado newspapers in 1952, which they merged into The Durango Herald by 1960. The couple also started the Ballantine Family Fund, which supported arts and education in Southwest Colorado. After her husband's death in 1975, Ballantine took over the chairmanship of the family-owned publishing company, continuing to produce a weekly column and editorials. She received many journalism awards and several honorary degrees. She was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 2002 and was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2014.
The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to the history of the U.S. state of Colorado. As of 2020, 170 women have been inducted.
Joy S. Burns was the president and CEO of the D.C. Burns Realty and Trust Company and the owner of the Burnsley Hotel. She was involved in the Denver, Colorado, community and served on a number of boards, including the Denver Metro Convention and Visitor's Bureau; Sportswomen of Colorado, Inc.; the Denver Center for the Performing Arts; and the Metropolitan Football Stadium District. Burns was also a founder of the Colorado Women's Foundation and of the Colorado Business Bank. She was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 1998, the Colorado Tourism and Travel Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.
Lena Lovato Archuleta was an American educator, school librarian, and administrator in New Mexico and Colorado for more than three decades. In 1976 she became the first Hispanic woman principal in the Denver Public Schools system. She was also the first Hispanic president of the Denver Classroom Teachers' Association and the Colorado Library Association, and the first female president of the Latin American Education Foundation. She was instrumental in the founding of several political and community advocacy groups for Latinos and served on numerous city and community boards. Following her retirement in 1979, she became a full-time volunteer for the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1985. In 2002 the Denver Public Schools system dedicated the Lena L. Archuleta Elementary School in northeast Denver in her honor.
Helen Gilmer Bonfils was an American heiress, actress, theatrical producer, newspaper executive, and philanthropist. She acted in local theatre in Denver, Colorado, and on Broadway, and also co-produced plays in Denver, New York City, and London. She succeeded her father, Frederick Gilmer Bonfils, as manager of The Denver Post in 1933, and eventually became president of the company. Lacking heirs, she invested her fortune into providing for the city of Denver and the state of Colorado, supporting the Belle Bonfils Blood Bank, the Bonfils Memorial Theatre, the University of Denver, the Denver Zoo, the Dumb Friends League, churches, and synagogues. Her estate endowed the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. She was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Colorado Performing Arts Hall of Fame in 1999.
Bonfils Memorial Theatre, also known as Lowenstein Theatre, was a community theatre in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, which operated from 1953 to 1986. Built by Denver philanthropist Helen Bonfils in memory of her parents, Frederick Gilmer Bonfils and Belle Barton Bonfils, it staged plays, operas, concerts, films, lectures, and television shows, presenting more than 400 productions. In 1985 it was renamed the Lowenstein Theatre in honor of its longtime producer, Henry Lowenstein. The theatre closed in 1986 and sat vacant for two decades. It was purchased in 2005 by Charles Woolley of the St. Charles Town Company, which renovated and reopened the building in 2006 as a Tattered Cover bookstore. The theatre building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Mary Madeline "May" Bonfils Stanton was an American heiress and philanthropist. She and her younger sister, Helen Bonfils, succeeded their father, Frederick Gilmer Bonfils, as principal owners of The Denver Post. However, May's elopement at age 21 with a non-Catholic salesman had forged a rift in her relationship with her parents and sister that worsened when Helen inherited the majority of their parents' estates. Following a three-year legal battle over the inheritance, the sisters cut off all communication with each other. May married twice but did not have children. Living a reclusive life, she invested her fortune into building and furnishing her 750-acre (300 ha) estate in Lakewood, Colorado – which included a mansion that was an exact replica of Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon château in Versailles – and into many philanthropic endeavors in the state of Colorado. The Bonfils–Stanton Foundation, established by her second husband after her death in 1962, continues to support the arts in Colorado. She was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1985.
Juana María Bordas is a Nicaraguan–American community activist specializing in leadership development and diversity training. She is a founder of several Denver, Colorado-area organizations promoting Latino and Latina leadership, including the Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, the National Hispana Leadership Institute, and Mestiza Leadership International, where she currently serves as president. She has authored two books and is a motivational speaker and workshop presenter for conferences and businesses. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1997.
Merle Catherine Chambers is an American lawyer, business executive, and philanthropist. She founded and served as CEO of Axem Resources, a private oil and gas exploration and production company, from 1980 to 1997, and since 1997 is the president and CEO of Leith Ventures, a private investment firm. She chairs the Merle Chambers Fund, which supports equity, democracy and women's economic security. She is also an active political contributor in Colorado, focusing on Democratic and women candidates. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2004, the Rocky Mountain Oil & Gas Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 2010.
Dorothy Louise Vennard Lamm is an American feminist, women's rights activist, educator, author, and speaker. She was First Lady of Colorado during her husband Richard Lamm's three terms as Governor of Colorado (1975–1987), and unsuccessfully ran for the United States Senate as the Colorado Democratic candidate in 1998. She wrote a weekly column for The Denver Post from 1979 to 1996 and later published three books. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1985.
Virginia H. Fraser was an American activist for human rights, women's rights, and elder rights. She was the Long-Term Care Ombudsman for the state of Colorado for more than two decades. She co-wrote several works on nursing home care and eldercare. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2002.
Sister Alicia Valladolid Cuarón is an American educator, human rights activist, women's rights activist, leadership development specialist, and Franciscan nun. Since the 1970s, she has crafted numerous initiatives benefiting low-income Latinas and Spanish-speaking immigrant families in Colorado, including the first bilingual and bicultural Head Start program in the state, the national Adelante Mujer Hispanic Employment and Training Conference, and the Bienestar Family Services Center, today a ministry of the Archdiocese of Denver. In 1992, Cuarón joined the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity, where she continues her efforts to promote education and leadership development among Spanish-speaking families. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2008.
Patricia Anne Gabow is an American academic physician, medical researcher, healthcare executive, author and lecturer. Specializing in nephrology, she joined the department of medicine, division of renal diseases, at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1973, advancing to a full professorship in 1987; she is presently Professor Emerita. She was the principal investigator on the National Institutes of Health Human Polycystic Kidney Disease research grant, which ran from 1985 to 1999, and defined the clinical manifestations and genetics of the disease in adults and children.
Maria Guajardo Lucero is an American educator and advocate for children and the Latino community. Born to illiterate Mexican migrant workers in California, she earned her undergraduate degree in psychology and social relations at Harvard University and her master's degree and doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Denver. From 1988 to 2013, she worked in several state and national government-level positions to increase opportunities for low-income children and Latinos, and served as executive director of the Latin American Research and Service Agency. In 2013 she moved to Tokyo, Japan, to develop a new degree program in international liberal arts at Sōka University. She served as dean of the program from 2013 to 2016, when she was promoted to vice president of the university (2016-2020). She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, and was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2010.
Sumiko Tanaka Hennessy is an American social worker, trauma therapist, academic, and activist for the Asian-American community in Denver, Colorado. Born in Yokohama, Japan, she earned her Master of Social Work degree at Fordham Graduate School of Social Service and her doctorate at the University of Denver. She was a founding board member and later executive director of the Asian Pacific Development Center, which provides mental health services, counseling, education, and youth activities for the Asian immigrant community in the Denver metropolitan area. In 2000 she helped inaugurate the Tokyo University of Social Welfare and is presently a professor emeritus of that institution. In 2004 she and her husband founded Crossroads for Social Work, LLC, a training program for mental health professionals in Japan and the United States. The recipient of numerous awards, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1989.
Dorothy Ann Ortner Horrell is an American educator, university administrator, and philanthropy administrator. From 2016 to 2020, she held the post of Chancellor of University of Colorado Denver. She was previously president of both Red Rocks Community College and the Colorado Community College System, and president and CEO of the Bonfils–Stanton Foundation. In 2009, she was appointed by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to the Colorado State University Board of Governors, which she also served as chair for a two-year term. Active on the boards of many community organizations, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2018.
Anna Jo Garcia Haynes is a former educator in Colorado who specialized in early childhood education. She was instrumental in early childhood education development in Colorado, where she founded the Mile High Montessori Early Learning Centers in Denver, founded the Mile High Montessori Early Learning Centers, co-founded Colorado Children's Campaign, and has been recognized by many organizations in Colorado including the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.