Everyone called him “Uncle Max,” and he embodied the idea of an uncle – kind, dependable and instructive.
Max Frankel, a figure for decades at Denver’s Temple Emanuel and in the Jewish community, died Oct. 11 at 91.
The ever-active Frankel had done his usual 10 miles on his exercise bike the day before his death.
Frankel, the longtime education director at Temple Emanuel, loved work and continued there well after “retiring.”
“‘Hobby’ wasn’t his middle name,” said his son, Stuart Frankel of Denver.
“He literally influenced tens of thousands of people,” said Rabbi Steven Foster of Temple Emanuel, noting that Frankel worked with Jewish youths at the University of Denver, at Shwayder Camp and through national Jewish organizations.
The effervescent Frankel often spoke to groups about the Holocaust, wanting to show people “what depravity people could exhibit without a belief in God,” his son said.
Still, he could find some humor. If the hall where he was speaking wasn’t full, he’d say, “Well, I see several people came dressed as empty chairs today.”
People at Temple Emanuel called his lines “Maxims.” He still had an office there when he died.
“They would come in for information or advice or a smile or just to be in his company,” said one of Frankel’s daughters, Sue Boxer of St. Louis.
“Within five minutes of meeting him, you hoped he would consider you a friend,” his son said.
A picture on Max Frankel’s office wall was of his graduating law class at DU. Somehow Frankel, by running from one side to the other while the camera panned, managed to show up on both ends of the picture, Foster said. He loved pointing it out to visitors.
Max Frankel was born Sept. 5, 1914, in Falkirk, Scotland, where the family lived after leaving Russia for the U.S. Their trip was delayed by World War I.
He was 4 when they moved to Colorado Springs.
He earned a history degree from Colorado College and his law degree at DU.
Frankel lost many relatives in the Holocaust. He served in the Army unit that liberated Buchenwald. One of his jobs was to take people from nearby through the camp so they could understand the horror of the war.
He spoke German and had a law degree, so he was kept in Germany an extra year after the war to help the U.S. government set up courts.
Frankel married Zelda Miller in 1940. She preceded him in death. In addition to his son and daughter, he is survived by daughter Nancy Kiefer of Manhattan, Kan.; nine grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at vculver@denverpost.com or 303-820- 1223.
