Adolph Coors III (January 12, 1915 – February 9, 1960) was the grandson of

Adolph Coors Adolph Herman Joseph Coors Sr. (February 4, 1847 – June 5, 1929) was a German-American brewer who founded the Adolph Coors Company in Golden, Colorado, in 1873. Early life Adolph Hermann Joseph Kuhrs was born in Barmen in Rhenish Prus ...

and heir to the

Coors Brewing Company The Coors Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company based in Golden, Colorado, that was founded in 1873. In 2005, Adolph Coors Company, the holding company that owned Coors Brewing, merged with Molson, Inc. to become Molson Coor ...

empire.

Life and career

Coors was born on January 12, 1915, the son of Alice May (née Kistler; 1885–1970) and Adolph Coors Jr. He attended

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. Like his father and his youngest brother

Joseph Coors Joseph Coors Sr. (November 12, 1917 – March 15, 2003), was the grandson of brewer Adolph Coors and president of Coors Brewing Company. Early life and education Coors was born on November 12, 1917, in Golden, Colorado, to Alice May Kistler ...

, Adolph graduated from

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 president of the Quill and Dagger society and a member of 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 ...

. Coors was also a semiprofessional baseball player. At the time of his death, he was CEO and chairman of the board of the Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado. Coors married Mary Urquhart Grant in November 1940. The couple had four children together.

Kidnapping

On February 9, 1960, while on his way to work, Coors was murdered in a failed kidnapping attempt by escaped murderer Joseph Corbett Jr. on Turkey Creek Bridge near Morrison,

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. On the morning of February 9, a milkman discovered Coors' International Travelall on the bridge, empty of occupants and with the radio on. Police identified the vehicle as belonging to Coors, and began a search of the area that turned up Coors' hat, glasses, and a blood stain. The following day, his wife Mary received a ransom note in the mail requesting $500,000 for his safe release. The hunt for Coors and his assailant was the largest FBI effort since the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. On September 11, 1960, a hiker by the name of Edward Lee Greene Jr. stumbled upon a pair of discarded trousers in the Rocky Mountains, and found in the pocket a penknife bearing the initials 'ACIII'. Then on September 15, 1960, a shirt belonging to Coors, and his skull, were found in a remote area near

Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, ...

. A witness turned up that revealed he had seen a yellow 1951 Mercury with the letters "AT" and numerals "62" somewhere in the license plate combination on the bridge around the time of Coors' disappearance. A car matching the description was found torched in a dump in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...

. Investigators traced the car back to a Colorado resident named Walter Osborne, who suspiciously moved out of his Denver apartment the day after the kidnapping. The name "Walter Osborne" was revealed to be an alias for Corbett. Due to international obsession with the case, including a picture of Corbett in an issue of ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

'', he was recognized by two neighbors in Vancouver, BC, and was arrested. As no witnesses were found, prosecutors built their case against Corbett through circumstantial and forensic evidence. Corbett's coworkers overheard him talking about a plan that would earn him over $1 million and the ransom note

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

was traced back to Corbett's typewriter. The biggest piece of evidence, however, was the soil found in the undercarriage of the yellow Mercury. Investigators were able to trace the car's path by noting the rare pink feldspar and granite minerals found in the area Coors' body was discovered. Corbett was convicted of first-degree murder on March 29, 1961, and sentenced to life in state prison. He was released on parole in 1980 for good behavior and drove a truck for the

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

until he retired. He died by suicide at the age of 80 in August 2009. He lived and died just 10 miles from where he killed Coors and always maintained his innocence. The kidnapping was featured in the '' Forensic Files'' episode "Bitter Brew". The 2017

true crime True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including detailing the actions of people associated with and affected by the crime, and investigating the perpetrator's Motive (law), motives. True crime works often ...

book ''The Death of an Heir: Adolph Coors III and the Murder That Rocked an American Brewing Dynasty'' by Phillip Jett details the kidnapping.

Legacy

An avid skier, Coors was inducted into the

Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame The Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame is a museum and hall of fame for notable figures in skiing and snowboarding, including athletes and sport builders. It has been in Vail, Colorado, at the Vail Transportation Center since 1992. Exhibits ...

in 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coors, Adolph 3 1915 births 1960 deaths 1960s missing person cases 20th-century American businesspeople American murder victims Coors family Cornell University alumni Deaths by firearm in Colorado Kidnapped businesspeople Missing person cases in Colorado People murdered in Colorado Phillips Exeter Academy alumni People murdered in 1960

Life and career

Kidnapping

Legacy

See also

References