Harold F. Silver, a Salt Lake native, started Silver Fund in 1989 by donating $274,000 dollars to Brigham Young University for university scholarships. The fund has been since used as a tool to teach students the principles of investing.
Harold F. Silver was a noted inventor and industrialist. One of his many inventions was the continuous mining machine, which revolutionized coal mining. Because of that, he was cited by Time-Life Books as one of the 250 greatest inventors in history. But his impact also extended beyond industry. A dedicated philanthropist, Silver gave institutions, including the endowment of scholarships at Brigham Young University.
A son of Joseph A. and Elizabeth Farnes Silver, he was born in Salt Lake City on March 15, 1901. He attended Riverside Elementary School and LDS High School. He studied at Columbia University, New York City, then took pre-law courses at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
At the age of 21, Mr. Silver became chief engineer of the Ogden Iron Works. He invented a non-flammable dry cleaning process, sugar beet piling equipment, the continuous coal mining machine, the first commercially successful continuous diffuser for sugar beets, the first modern continuous cane sugar diffuser, the continuous centrifugal cone press, and the coal drier.
After designing the sugar beet piling machinery, Mr. Silver moved his family to Denver in 1934. He founded the Silver-Roberts Iron Works with Fred Roberts. In 1940, he bought out his partner and changed the company's name to Silver Engineering Works.
Later he formed Silver Steel Co., a steel and aluminum distribution network throughout the Mountain West, with a plant in Salt Lake City.
After selling Silver Engineering Works and Silver Steel (divisions of the Silver Corp.) to Amfac of Hawaii in 1965, he developed a computerized stock evaluation program called Markedex.
Mr. Silver was a prominent Denver civic leader. He was chairman of the Denver Area Community Chest and of the Area Council, Boy Scouts of America. He was the honorary vice chairman of the Mile High United Fund.
He received many awards for community service, including the Jesse Knight Industrial Citizenship Award by BYU, the Mile High Sertoma Club Serve to Mankind Award in 1961, the Regis College “Civis Princeps” (first citizen) medal, the National Conference of Christians and Jews Brotherhood Award, the 1974 public service award of the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry and the Denver Clinic 1978 distinguished service award.
He endowed the Harold F. Silver Chair of Finance and Management in BYU’s School of Management. He established the Madelyn Stewart Silver and Ruth Smith Silver Fund for student scholarships at BYU.
Deseret News September 1984 (with modification)
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