Adolph Herman Joseph Coors Jr. (January 12, 1884 – June 28, 1970) was an American businessman. He was the son of Louisa (Webber) and brewer
Adolph Coors, and the second President of
Coors Brewing Company.
Life and career
Coors was a graduate of
Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
, where he was a member of the
Sphinx Head Society and the
Kappa Alpha Society
The Kappa Alpha Society () is a North American social college fraternity. Founded in 1825, it was the progenitor of the modern fraternity system in North America. It is considered to be the oldest national, secret, Greek-letter social fraterni ...
. He became an accomplished chemist who worked in prominent positions in the family's brewing and
porcelain
Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...
operations. He married Alice May Kistler (1885–1970) of
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
on May 4, 1912, at the Kistler home by Rev. Van Arsdall. The couple had four children:
Adolph Coors III (1915–1960) who was kidnapped and killed in 1960;
William K. Coors (1916–2018),
Joseph Coors (1917–2003), and May Louise Coors (1923–2008).
Coors had his own brush with kidnapping in 1934. Paul Robert Lane, the former state Prohibition agent for Colorado, and Clyde Culbertson, former investigator for the federal dry forces, along with two other men conspired to kidnap Adolph Jr. for a ransom of $50,000. The person delivering the money was to proceed to three different checkpoints to ensure no officers were tailing him and then split the money; Coors would be released somewhere around
Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...
. Denver police learned of the plot while working on an auto theft ring and Adolph Jr. volunteered to be kidnapped so the police could arrest the suspects. However, Lane was arrested on an auto theft charge and the conspiracy was foiled in advance.
Adolph Coors Jr. died in 1970 at the age of 86 years old.
References
American drink industry businesspeople
Coors family
Cornell University alumni
1884 births
1970 deaths
People from the Denver metropolitan area
People from Golden, Colorado
American brewers
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