Nidess, Daniel Ary

Daniel Ary Nidess was born in Denver, Colorado on December 8, 1919. He was the 2nd child of Ary and Tillie Nidess, Russian-Jewish immigrants who ran a family grocery on Stout Street. Daniel began creating advertising print and sales fliers as a young contributor to the family business.

His name appeared several times in the Denver Post for winning High School and community awards for essays and literary contributions. He edited Manual High School’s newspaper for one year and was the winner of the citywide Kiwanis Oratorical Contest for High Schools in his senior year.

Nidess attended the University of Colorado, Boulder on scholarship, studying Journalism between 1937 and 1939. There he was editor of the C.U. literary magazine and authored "My Chosen People," a one-act play centered on a German Jewish family in Berlin in 1938. The play was directed by James Sandoe at the University of Colorado in 1939 and won the university's annual one-act play contest. It was later published in One Act Play Magazine and Theatre Review (Feb. 1940:144 -158).

In 1939 Nidess transferred to the University of Denver. The Record Stockman News Co. employed him as its daily radio announcer while he was a student. He edited the Pan-American News; wrote radio scripts for D.U.’s public relations weekly program; and wrote for the Rocky Mountain Radio Council and other public organizations.

He volunteered in the U.S. Army in 1941, working as a company clerk in Company C 19th Combat Engineers serving in Algeria, Tunisia, Sicily and Italy during World War II. His feelings and observations during these years were documented in journals and in numerous poems. He served as Public Relations Director and Editor of the Regimental Diary and monthly News Bulletin. He was a contributor to the Stars and Stripes, the Armed Forces newspaper.

After his discharge as a Staff Sergeant in 1945, he returned to D.U. to complete his degree in Journalism while working in his parents’ grocery. He married Lois Maureen Shumway in 1947 and they had a son, Rael, in 1948, a daughter, Tanya, in 1950, and 3 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.

In 1956 Nidess founded Specialty Foods Corp., a wholesale specialty and health foods distributorship. In 1961 started Nutri-Books, Inc. a health foods book distributorship. Both these enterprises were successful and provided an income and an outlet for his writing talents through advertising and sales catalogues. He continued as Executive Director in charge of Purchasing and Promotion until his retirement at age 73. He survived his wife of 34 years and later married the former Dorothy Katz with whom he lived happily until her death in 2003.

Even in his later years he did not abandon his passion for writing. Among his last poems is A Toast to Viagra : Here’s to our ability, And to our agility, To take our virility, Into our senility.

Nidess was a founder of Beth Joseph Synagogue and a member for 33 years. He is a 50+ years’ member and supporter of B’nai Brith, Allied Jewish Campaign, Jewish National Fund, A.C.L.U, Southern Poverty Law Center, N.A.A.C.P. and many other charitable organizations.

Daniel Nidess now resides close to family in a care facility in Rochester, NY. (2010.)

Francis Wolle (1889-1979) was Professor of English and cofounder of the University Theater at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

From the guide to the Daniel Ary Nidess Papers (MS 43), ca. 1943-1944, (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Special Collections Dept.)