 Holly Coors |
Holly Coors, whose work helped launch the Heritage Foundation, has died at the age of 87.
Her death was confirmed to WND by officials at the Adolph Coors Foundation, where she also served on the board.
Born Holland H. Coors in Bangor, Maine, on Aug. 25, 1921, she was awarded the special rank of ambassador for the United States by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 when she served as a special representative to the National Year of the Americas.
She worked under the secretary of state on conferences and ceremonies relating to public and private sector involvement in the Year of the Americas.
Coors also served as a member of the Peace Corps Advisory Council in the 1980s, a member of the Board of Visitors for the U.S. Air Force Academy, as chair of the Colorado Citizens for a New Beginning and as chair of Colorado Reagan-Bush in 1984. She also founded Women of Our Hemisphere Achieving Together.
Details about her death have not been released by the family, the foundation officials said.
Coors was married to Golden, Colo., beer baron Joseph Coors Sr. from 1941 through 1987, when they divorced. Their children included Joe Coors Jr., Jeff Coors, Pete Coors, Grover Coors and John Coors.
Her former husband was a grandson of the Coors company founder. He died several years ago at age 85.
Besides making his family’s beer a nationwide brand, he used his fortune to support conservative causes, including the launch of the Heritage Foundation and Ronald Reagan’s climb to the presidency.
Joseph Coors Jr. challenged Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing and grew his company from a production of about 300,000 barrels of beer produced each year to about 20 million.
The company for years held hard to a non-union policy for its operations, drawing a bitter boycott battle that didn’t end until the 1980s.
The Coors influence also helped other conservative bodies, including the Free Congress Foundation, the Mountain States Legal Foundation and the Leadership Institute.
Coors later merged with Molson, becoming Molson Coors Brewing, and launched a series of corporate initiatives designed to accommodate the requests of political interest groups within the industry.
