Adolph Kiesler was called ‘man of the century’

his many beneficiaries, Adolph Kiesler would always be known as the “prince of givers.” To his good friend and fellow Zionist, Rabbi Herbert Friedman — known in his day for his wry sense of humor — Kiesler was “the shaggy buffalo of the West.” Others who considered him a friend had additional humorous nicknames. The comedian George Jessel, referring to Kiesler’s heavy Romanian accent, called him “the professor of broken English at Yale.” Yet the late Doris Sky, who wrote Kiesler’s obituary for the Intermountain Jewish News more than half a century ago, noted that he was fluent, both as a speaker and a reader, in English, Yiddish, Hebrew, Latin, French and German. He was a study in many other contrasts. As a young man […]