Chasing The Cure

Charles David Spivak was born in Russia in 1861 and died in Denver in 1927. He became a revolutionary Socialist in his youth and had to flee Russia to avoid being arrested by the Russian secret police. He arrived in New York City in 1882 and took various jobs until he learned English. He worked as a day laborer in New York, a factory working in Maine, and as a typesetter on the “Jewish Messenger.” In 1890 he graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia with honors, and by 1885 he was Chief of Staff of the Philadelphia Polyclinics in Gastro-Internal diseases. In 1893 Charles Spivak married Jennie Charsky and they moved to Denver in 1896 because of her poor health. The Spivak Family Papers and Art, B250, contains information on Charles and Jennie Spivak and their children.

Dr. Spivak was a co-founder of the Jewish Consumptives’ Relief Society and was the executive secretary from 1904 until 1927. He was involved in every aspect of the JCRS and was affectionately known as “Papa Spivak.” Dr. Spivak, an ardent socialist, emphasized that the JCRS was to be a “people’s institution” and was proud of the fact that the institution often collected its funds in dollars and quarters from around the United States.