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Henry Goldstein

Henry Goldstein

Henry Goldstein

Henry M. Goldstein, 103, the oldest member of Rodef Shalom and one of the oldest surviving WW II veterans in Colorado, passed away July 5, 2016, in Denver. Rabbi Bernard Gerson and Cantor Saul Rosenthal officiated at the July 8 service at Rodef Shalom.

Interment followed at Emanuel Cemetery. Feldman Mortuary made the arrangements.

Mr. Goldstein, who served in the US Army on the French colonial island of New Caledonia (headquarters of the US Army and Navy in the South Pacific), attended the 2004 dedication of the WW II Memorial in Washington, DC.

Although he never saw battle, the kindhearted draftsman-engineer had many memorable experiences during the war.

He met the French plantation owner who may have been the model for the character Emile de Becque in James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific, and was the first to tell his superior officers about the Japanese surrender thanks to a short wave radio he constructed out of scrap material.

Mr. Goldstein spent most of his career working for the US Bureau of Reclamation, helping to develop detailed designs by hand of the major dam and irrigation projects the bureau constructed in the Western states.

While president of the Denver Bureau of Reclamation Employees Assn., he negotiated with Mayor J. Quigg Newton to guarantee water distribution to an undeveloped subdivision near the bureau’s southwest Denver location.

Mr. Goldstein was born Dec. 14, 1912, in Philadelphia. When he was six, his parents moved to Denver to be treated for tuberculosis.

Growing up, he helped out at his father’s fruit and vegetable stand on West Colfax.

Mr. Goldstein graduated from North High School and earned a degree in business from DU.

To help support his family, he sold World Book Encyclopedias door-to-door and worked weekends at the Van Sickle Engineering Firm.

In his retirement years, Mr. Goldstein was a fixture on the front porch of his Congress Park neighborhood home, greeting longtime and new residents alike.

Mr. Goldstein is survived by his wife Mira Lee Goldstein; daughters Bonnie Haimowitz of Aurora and Helene Lohman of Omaha and son Edward Goldstein of Potomac, Md.; grandchildren Rebecca Haimowitz-King, Benjamin Lohman, Justin Lee Lohman, Brooks Goldstein; and great-grandson Asher Haimowitz-King.

Grandson Russell Goldstein passed away in 2016.

Contributions may be made to the Russell Elliot Goldstein Memorial Fund, c/o Jewish Communal Fund, 575 Madison Ave., Suite 703, New York, NY 10022; or National Jewish Health.

Copyright © 2016 by the Intermountain Jewish News




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