Alex S. Keller (1928-96)
| Publication year | 2011 |
| Pages | 45 |
2011, July, Pg. 45. Alex S. Keller (1928-96)
July 2011
Vol. 40, No. 7 [Page 45]
About the Author
Stephen W. Wahlberg was hiredby Alex Keller as a first-year law clerk in 1979. They became law partners in 1985 and remained in partnership until Keller's death in 1996. Wahlberg is the past president of the American Board of Trial Advocates and has served on the board of directors of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association for more than ten years-steve@hwkslaw.com.
During the 1980s, Alex Keller was consideredby his colleagues around the bar to be the "patriarch" of the Colorado Bar Association (CBA). He was a powerful voice for ethics, professionalism, and zealous advocacy. He was one of the most remarkable and talented trial lawyers of his generation.
A Child in Vienna
Born into aristocratic Vienna in 1928, Alex was 10 years old when the Nazis took Austria. His father was the editor of the Vienna newspaper and his mother was a school teacher and actress. His family was well-known in Vienna society, which was a bit unfortunate, because his grandmother was Jewish.
At age 10, his school was ordered to cooperate with the National Socialists, and Alex was forced to march with the Hitler Youth. He clearly was a stealthy lad and had learned to "move undercover" before he was 12.
Alex spoke three languages-German, English, and Central Austro-Bavarian-and various dialects of German. Later, in the courtroom, one could never detect that English was his second language.
His father's anti-Nazi sentiments were well documented and it became urgent that Alex and his family leave the country. Alex and his mother were couriered into London shortly before the bombing of Vienna. His sister and his grandmother were unable to obtain visas and were sent to a concentration camp in Poland. He never saw them or his father again.
Alex's mother had a relative in Walsenburg, Colorado. After his mother and he entered the United States at Ellis Island, they boarded a train for Colorado. They moved to Denver when his mother got a job teaching in the Music and Theatre Department at the University of Denver.
An American Citizen
At the age of 17, Alex took the oath of citizenship in Denver, graduated from South High School, and enlisted in the Special Forces. He stunned his superiors with his mastery of languages and weapons. He read maps and identified photographs of Nazi collaborators in Vienna. As a consequence, he was placed in the "diplomatic" corps. Although no one knew it at the time, Alex was a special agent officially assigned to the counter-intelligence corps headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. He moved in darkness through Germany, Vienna, and Switzerland, tracking Nazi SS Officers. He ultimately captured and held SS Major General Jost(fn1) until additional SS Officers arrived to take over. Jost ultimately was tried and convicted at Nuremburg.
Alex attended the University of Denver (DU) and majored in political science, with a minor in speech...
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