| Collection
Overview |
Scope
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| Biographical Sketch |
Detailed List of
Collection Contents |
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Biographical
Sketch |
| A tireless fundraiser and advocate of higher education,
Marion S. Gottesfeld (1917-2001) came to be known as the “godmother”
of the University of Denver. She was born Marion Rosenbaum in Brooklyn,
New York and was educated at Wellesley College, where she received
a bachelor’s degree in geology (with minors in physics and chemistry)
in 1938. After earning a master’s degree in business administration
at New York University in 1941, she married Denver Rose Medical Center
founder and president, Dr. M. Ray Gottesfeld, a widower with two young
sons (Stuart and Kenneth). The couple subsequently had two more children.
Dr. Gottesfeld died in 1961. Marion later married Denver businessman,
David Hurwitz.
Marion Gottesfeld’s association with the University of Denver
began soon after her arrival in Colorado in the late 1940s. She
was appointed to the University of Denver’s Board of Trustees
in 1953, and at the time of her death in 2001, her tenure was the
longest of any DU trustee – 48 years of service. Her many
contributions to the University include the formation of the Women’s
Library Association, which has raised over three million dollars
in funds for the University’s Penrose Library. She also helped
to establish the University’s Center for Judaic Studies, Holocaust
Awareness Institute, and Lamont Music Associates.
As a commissioner of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority, Marion
Gottesfeld was involved in the redevelopment of lower downtown Denver
and was instrumental in the restoration and preservation of Larimer
Square and the Daniels and Fisher Tower. She also served on the
Board of Directors of KDBI, a Denver PBS affiliate. She was an active
and successful fund raiser for a myriad of organizations including
Denver’s Rose Medical Center, Colorado Head Start, Opera Colorado,
and the Colorado Symphony. In 1999, she was appointed by Colorado
Governor Bill Owens to the state’s Commission on Higher Education.
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