Denver County, History of Colorado, BIOS: GEIJSBEEK-MOLENAAR, John Bart  (published 1918)
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"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918)  Vol. II

p. 24, 26
photo p.25


HON. JOHN BART GEIJSBEEK MOLENAAR.

	Hon. John B. Geijsbeek Molenaar, prominent in law and 
accountancy, has the honor of representing the royal government of The 
Netherlands as consul for the states of Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, 
with headquarters at Denver.

	Well known as he is in the business world, his greatest 
achievements are along the lines of commercial education, for he has 
written one of the standard works on public accountancy, has acted as 
instructor on this subject for many years, and has done much more 
toward raising the standards of his profession.

	He was born April 24, 1872, at Lemele, Holland, and is the second 
son of Dirk Geijsbeek Molenaar, also a native of The Netherlands, who, 
however, now resides in Portland, Oregon. The father brought his family 
to America in 1893, first settling in New York city but later removing 
to Cincinnati, and finally to Portland, Oregon. He still lives there, a 
successful architect. He was married to Miss Wilhelmina Blikman-
Klkkert, a daughter of Jan Blikman-Kikkert, owner of a large fleet of 
commercial freight vessels. She was born in the Lowlands in 1835 and 
passed away in Cincinnati at the age of sixty-three.

	John B. Geijsbeek received his preliminary education in the 
excellent schools of his native country in the City of Arnhem, and then 
entered the famous old University of Leyden where he passed his 
freshman year. Upon coming to this country he matriculated in the law 
department of the Denver University from which he was graduated in 1907 
with the degree of LL.B. In 1910 he received from the same institution 
the honorary degree of M. C. S. (Master of Commercial Science). As a 
young man he fitted himself to become an accountant and followed that 
profession exclusively for a number of years in Holland, as well as in 
Denver, but since his admittance to the Colorado bar he has 
successfully practiced both law and accountancy. He has not only a good 
knowledge of law but a natural intuition for legal principles and has 
been connected with many important cases. He is a member of the Denver 
Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association and is also connected 
with the American Bar Association. He has not only gained a prominent 
position in the profession but has a high standing as a financial 
adviser, is represented in the directorates of a number of leading 
corporations, and in that way also has contributed much to the 
upbuilding and growth of his city and state. He has been the unknown 
power behind the throne that has turned many an apparently inevitable 
commercial failure into a splendid success. His name is thus connected 
with many well known business enterprises in this state.

	Mr. Geijsbeek is considered an authority on advanced commercial 
education and has lectured extensively on this subject in the United 
States. His reputation is well established in the west and it has been 
largely through his instrumentality that commercial education has been 
added to the curriculum of a number of universities throughout the 
country. He has also written extensively on this subject and his 
publications have found the attention due them.

	Mr. Geijsbeek has gained fame as a translator and his book, 
"Ancient Double Entry Bookkeeping," published in 1914, enjoys a wide 
popularity on account of its intrinsic value and because its principles 
are set forth in terms which are readily understood. The work is based 
upon Lucas Pacioli's Italian Treatise (A. D. 1494), the earliest known 
writing on bookkeeping, and is enriched by reproductions, notes and 
abstracts from Manzoni, Peitra, Mainardi, Ympyn, Steven and Dafforne. 
Coming as he did from Holland twenty-five years ago without knowledge 
of American commercial practices and language, the author in his 
publication of "Ancient Double Entry Bookkeeping" recognized from his 
experience as an educator the lack of clearly expressed principles in 
accountancy and began researches that finally culminated in this 
published translation in English. It was the first time that the first 
known writings on this subject were published in this tongue although 
ages ago translations existed in the Dutch, French, Russian, German and 
Japanese languages.

	At every turn in the preachment of the scientific principles of 
his profession to the commercial mind, in the writing of a book and the 
establishment of schools to teach these principles, and in his 
successful efforts for the passage of the certified public accountants' 
law in Colorado, lie some of his many contributions to the history of 
Colorado. At this time he was secretary of the first examining board 
of. the state and subsequently continued his educational labors along 
that line as the founder and later, for five years, as dean of the 
School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance of the University of Denver, 
and as instructor in practical and theoretical accountancy. This school 
was the third one to be established in the United States. His untiring 
efforts were further recognized when five successive times he was 
chosen chairman of the educational committee of the American 
Association of Public Accountants.

	During all this period he has been confronted by a dearth of 
practical exemplification, historical or otherwise, of the true 
foundation of what in modern times might be called the art of 
accountancy. This led him to publish his standard work. In this 
treatise he has welded into a well balanced whole the ancient and the 
modern plans of commercial education resulting in a work wherein so 
many public accountants find the fundamental principles from which to 
develop their professional ability.  In promoting the science of 
accountancy Mr. Geijsbeek may be said to have reached an enviable goal, 
for he has succeeded in creating something a direct necessity to the 
profession.

	The work is dedicated as follows: "To my wife, Marie Lillie 
Schmidt whose initials (M. L. S.) I have always loved to connect with 
My Little Sweetheart, without whose patience, kindness, help and 
indulgence my contributions to the educational field of the 
professional accountant would not have been possible."

	On October 15, 1901, Mr. Geijsbeek was married in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, to Miss Marie Lillie Schmidt, a native of that city, and a 
daughter of Harry W. and the late Marie Lizette Albes Schmidt. Her 
mother was of French and Spanish descent. Both Mr. and Mrs. Geijsbeek 
are known in social circles in Denver where he has made his home since 
1899.

	He is connected with the Phi Delta Phi college fraternity and 
with Alpha Kappa Psi. He is prominent in club circles, belonging among 
others to the Denver Country Club and the Denver Civic and Commercial 
Club.  He is a Christian Scientist, and during 1917 served as director 
of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, being deeply interested in 
the work of the church and doing everything in his power to increase 
its prestige. Fraternally, he is a member of the Masonic order and the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

	Since taking out his naturalization papers in Covington, 
Kentucky, September 28, 1898, Mr. Geijsbeek has made American interests 
his own, loyally supporting beneficial policies. He has traveled 
extensively in the United States and has come to love this wide land 
with its many peoples standing united for the same principles of 
democracy and liberty. The great success that has come to Mr. Geijsbeek 
can be ascribed to his natural ability, to his inherent qualities as an 
educator, to his unfaltering efforts and to his generally high 
conception of the duties of man.

	In 1917 there came to him a great honor-unsolicited and 
reluctantly accepted- The Royal Government of The Netherlands, in 
conjunction with President Woodrow Wilson, appointed him to the 
position of Consul. To his many occupations he at once added the duties 
of this office and faithfully discharges his official obligations to 
the satisfaction of both governments, and of his former as well as his 
present countrymen but he asserts that the most difficult task he has 
ever encountered is that of being forced to remain neutral.

	The old Dutch family name, Geijsbeek Molenaar, has been 
abbreviated by Consul Geijsbeek to this form and under this name he is 
known to the professional and commercial world of this city and state. 
Great honors have come to him but it is only fair to say that they are 
well merited-that they have been bestowed upon one who is worthy and 
who carries them with justifiable dignity.