Joseph Coors Barreled Ahead; Take Action: Family brewer found new ways to stir support for free enterprise.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)

Byline: PAUL KATZEFF

In 1956, Adolph Coors Co. produced beer with a union work force. Company and labor had amicably negotiated two contracts in the prior three years. But when workers at its next-door sister firm, Coors Porcelain, went on strike, most brewery workers honored the porcelain union's picket line.

Hoping to avoid future picket lines, Joseph Coors Sr. and his brother William -- heads of the firm founded by their grandfather -- set out to make their brewery union-free, Dan Baum recounts in his book, "Citizen Coors: An American Dynasty."

It was the start of a campaign on behalf of entrepreneurs' rights that lasted for much of both men's careers.

More than anyone in his family, Joe took the fight well beyond the brewery into the public arena. Believing victory depended on freeing businesspeople nationwide from undue restrictions, he became an advocate of conservative causes and put his money behind his beliefs.

He was a key backer of conservative bodies like the Free Congress Foundation. He also helped found the Heritage Foundation, an influential think tank.

He had a long-range view, and nurtured relationships with an eye to the future. For instance, he was an early booster of Ronald Reagan's political career. Later, when Reagan won the White House, Coors became a member of the president's kitchen Cabinet, an informal but influential group of advisers. Drawing on his loyalty to the cause, Coors pushed for and won Reagan appointments for several conservative fellow Coloradans, such as James Watt as interior secretary.