DENVER — Seymour M. Katzson, native and respected businessman and community philanthropist, passed away March 23, 2019, just days shy of his 99th birthday.
“He was well-known in the drycleaning and laundry industry, not only for his consummate sales and customer relation skills, but also for his broad knowledge of equipment and parts,” says son-in-law Richard Right of Katzson Brothers. “Seymour had a friendly, indefatigable presence in this industry for over 80 years.”
A member of the increasingly shrinking ‘Greatest Generation,’ Katzson and his brother Sidney, spent most of their formative years at the Denver Sheltering Home for Jewish Children, as their mother passed away when Seymour was less than a year old.
Sidney and Seymour founded Denver Tailor Supply (later to become Katzson Brothers) with a $200 loan, Right points out, adding: “Since then, Katzson Brothers has become a national leader in the laundry/drycleaning and hotel/motel/hospitality industries. Today, Katzson Brothers is 84 years old and has expanded to three locations, serving a 10-state region.”
At the age of six years old, Seymour was selling newspapers on “his” 15th and Champa Street corner in downtown Denver, Right notes.
During World War II, he served as a radio operator in the Ascension Islands, and then returned home after the war to help his brother operate and run the business they established before he left.
Katzson was married to Maxine Price Katzson who predeceased him after 64 years of marriage. His daughter Mindy, passed away 11 years ago.
Katzson is survived by his two daughters Michele Right (Richard), Robyn Levy (Andrew), five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Donations can be made to Denver Hospice.
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