Seraphine Eppstein Pisko

Seraphine Eppstein was born in St. Joseph. (January 1,1861-July 27, 1942)

In 1875 the family moved to Denver. She was 14 years old at the time. Seraphine married Edward Pisko in 1978, when she was seventeen years old. Her husband was born in Austria and was a leader in the Jewish community in Denver. He also served in the Colorado State Legislature.

Seraphine was part of the clubwoman social movement and a hospital administrator. From 1893 to 1901, Pisko served as president of the Hebrew Ladies Benevolent Society, also known as the Jewish Charities Association, and the Jewish Relief Society in Denver. She represented Denver at the National Conference of Jewish Charities meeting, and at the National Conference of Charities and Corrections in Ohio in 1899. She helped to organize the Jewish Settlement Home, and worked to establish free kindergarten for immigrant children. She wrote to Jewish publications about women’s suffrage from the perspective of Colorado women,“In Colorado we have had the enfranchisement of women for twenty – three years and I know of no homes that have been broken up on account of this.” She represented the National Council of Women at the International Congress of Women in the Hague in 1922, and continued active in international women’s issues.

She was president of the Denver chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women. In 1911 she became executive secretary of the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives in Denver. Since its founding she was a successful fundraiser for the hospital. During her tenure, the hospital was able to establish a research department. A wing of the hospital was named in her honer in 1925. She retired from that work in 1925. The image that represents her was from a 1917 publication.