Daniel L. Ritchie, a private man whose generosity and hard work resurrected and shaped some of Colorado’s most important institutions, died Thursday.
The University of Denver chancellor emeritus, a onetime CEO of major communications corporations including Westinghouse Broadcasting, and former chairman of the board of trustees for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, was 93.
When Ritchie took the helm at DU in 1989, the private university was in severe financial trouble, said longtime friend David Thomson, who served as DU’s student body president at that time.
Thomson was in the process of figuring out how to tell his fellow students they could not return to campus.
When Ritchie stepped in, he persuaded DU board members to participate in matching grants to the school and donated his ranch in Kremmling to underwrite the matches — a deal that brought in tens of millions of dollars to the university.
Ritchie’s business acumen, steady leadership and knack for philanthropy righted the rough seas for a number of Denver’s most iconic organizations, and his commitment to community lives on through their storied legacies, Thomson said.
“Being responsible in your community — I think that is what Dan has done,” said Thomson, who met Ritchie as a young man and sees him as a father figure. “He has involved himself in so many things to enrich the lives of people of Colorado. Not just Denver, but all of Colorado.”
This is a developing story that will be updated.
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