Ralph Auerbach, a Denver businessman, volunteer and fundraiser, passed away Jan. 4, 2013, in Denver. Rabbi Bruce Dollin and Cantors Martin Goldstein and Maurice Weiss officiated at the Jan. 7 service at the HEA.
Interment followed at Rose Hill Cemetery. Feldman Mortuary made the arrangements.
Mr. Auerbach’s children remember him as an excellent teacher who was committed to the Jewish people and who always spoke his mind. His motto was, ”Say what you mean,” recalls son Jeff Auerbach.
Wife Carolyn says her husband was a man who touched many different facets of Denver’s Jewish community with his good deeds, and son Bill describes his father as someone who loved his family with every ounce of his being.
Mr. Auerbach was born Feb. 23, 1932, in Poland. He came to the US in 1938 and settled in Denver, where he and his family belonged to Zera Abraham.
He attended Cheltenham Elementary, Lake Junior and North High Schools and briefly attended DU until he was drafted into the Navy for the Korean War.
On August 15, 1954, he marred Carolyn Lipp, originally of Cincinnati, Ohio. They were happily married for 58 years.
Read the IJN’s editorial eulogizing Ralph Auerbach
A manager at Sigman Meat Company, Mr. Auerbach entered the wholesale meat distribution business in 1966. He purchased Lyco Meat Company in 1967, later renaming it Auerbachs Meat Company, and ran the business with his son Jeff until his retirement.
Mr. Auerbach was a member of Beth Joseph for 40 years and later joined EDOS and the HEA. He served on the boards and as president of Beth Joseph, Allied Jewish Federation and Hillel Academy.
A fundraiser for the UJA, he became the national vice chairman of fundraising and traveled throughout the world raising funds for Israel. Along with Carolyn and Bobbie and the late Jerry Carr, he helped found the Kosher Pantry.
Mr. Auerbach is survived by his wife Carolyn Auerbach of Denver; children Marci Auerbach and Jeffrey (Terri) Auerbach of Denver and William (Suzanne) Auerbach of Lincolnwood, Ill.; sister Sherry Mendelsberg of Denver; grandchildren Joshua, Jason (Alexandra), Michael (Samantha) Auerbach, Julie, Michelle (Michael Segan), Molly, Benjamin, Zahava, Rena and Matan Auerbach; and great-grandchildren Henry, Lucy and Ryan Auerbach.
Contributions may be made to the Auerbach Fund for Learning Differences, c/o Denver Jewish Day School; or the Denver Community Center in Lod, Israel, c/o the Allied Jewish Federation.
Copyright © 2013 by the Intermountain Jewish News
