Miriam Harris Goldberg, longtime editor and publisher of the Intermountain Jewish News, died Sunday in Denver. She was 100.
Goldberg, who led the Denver-based, family-owned publication for decades, was known as a tireless executive, journalist and worker.
Born May 18, 1916, in Chicago, Miriam Harris was raised in Colorado and graduated from Denver East High School.
On Feb. 12, 1936, she married Max Goldberg in Denver at the BMH Synagouge. Max Goldberg purchased the IJN in 1943. He also wrote a weekly column — Sidestreet — for The Denver Post in the 1950s and 1960s.
Max Goldberg died in 1972, and Miriam Goldberg succeeded her late husband at the helm of the IJN.
“She was thrust into the position, either wallowing in her grief or rolling up her sleeves and getting to work,” said Charles “Chuck” Goldberg, her son. “She built the paper into what it is today.”
Over the years, Goldberg worked in all departments of the weekly newspaper. She created the business model for multiple IJN special issues, including the 100th anniversary issue in June 2013. In preparing an 85th anniversary publication in 1998, staffers, including Goldberg, worked grinding shifts, including 12-hour days, six days a week.
“Thank God for the Sabbath,” Goldberg told The Denver Post at the time.
A charter member of the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, Goldberg was recognized as a Colorado Press Woman of Achievement and a National Press Woman runner-up.
In June, she was among other Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame inductees recognized for excellence in journalism and business at a Denver Public Library event. Marilyn Saltzman, a journalist, longtime friend and colleague of Goldberg, spoke at last year’s event.
“She was a role model for all women journalists. Just look at her long and distinguished career,” Saltzman said. “She nurtured women journalists, she was a friend to us. She was definitely a force in the newspaper community and the Jewish community of Denver.”
Goldberg was known to free up time from her busy schedule to watch her newspaper roll off the presses.
“She was so dedicated to the paper, which she called ‘The Paper!’ ” Saltzman recalled.
Saltzman described Goldberg as an outgoing woman who “dressed beautifully and always had her hair perfectly coiffed.”
Chuck Goldberg described his mother as devoted and gregarious, sincere traits that aided her in being a “consummate saleswoman.”
“She was the sweetest, most engaging person you ever met,” Goldberg said. “She would always ask about everybody. When people saw her coming, they couldn’t resist when she asked them to purchase an ad. She was so endearing, people were more than happy to support her paper.”
The award-winning IJN, which is also published online, is a member of the American Jewish Press Association, Colorado Press Association and National Newspaper Association. It covers a multistate region, including Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah and Montana.
The online edition recognized the loss of its matriarch Monday among other headlines.
She is survived by three sons, Chuck, Richard and Rabbi Hillel; a daughter, Dorothy Lee Scott; grandchildren; and great-grandchildren.
A service was held Monday at BMH/BJ Congregation in Denver. Interment is in Rose Hill Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Jewish Institute for the Blind, 185 Madison Ave., No. 1601, New York, NY 10016.
