The west side of Magness Arena was filled Thursday morning with academics, politicians, and public and private civic community leaders, alumni and friends. All gathered to celebrate the life of Chancellor Emeritus Daniel L. Ritchie.
Outside of DU’s founder, John Evans, the University of Denver had no greater, more impactful leader than Ritchie. While many memorials tend to assign hyperbole – this event delivered genuine, consistent themes which were repeated by numerous speakers and guests that included, Chancellor Jeremy Haefner, Mayor Mike Johnson, Justice Rebecca Love Kourlis, Janice Sinden (CEO – Denver Center for the Performing Arts), Gail Klapper (President – Colorado Forum), Colorado Governor Jared Polis, and Attorney General Phil Weiser. According to each speaker, Ritchie was ‘a man who gave so much but took so little.’
Current Chancellor Jeremy Haefner cited Ritchie’s important role as a personal “friend, mentor and guiding light.” The direct impact of these three fundamental areas was echoed by a host of other speakers as well. How Ritchie achieved this can be found, in part, by Ritchie’s Cowboy Ethics which, if followed, “We can ALL be heroes in our own LIVES” by following these ten guiding principles:
Ritchie’s impact was felt in the business world, higher education, the arts, and pre-K through secondary education in Denver as a thought leader and executive. His work reached well beyond the walls of DU and echoed across the state and beyond. Memorial attendees were reminded that Ritchie retired four separate times, only to be brought back by organizations with a deep need for his guidance, wisdom, and leadership.
The real challenge for a host of other organizations, along with DU, is filling the void left by Ritchie. He left things better than the way he found them, especially if one looks at the bricks and mortar at DU. However, Ritchie viewed material wealth as merely a vehicle to be employed for the greater good. It won’t be easy for any one person to duplicate Ritchie’s numerous, indelible achievements. According to every tribute given, he modeled leadership and mentored others to carry on with his work.
Perhaps Mayor Mike Johnson summed it up the best, “An old man plants a tree for shade that he will never know.” Dan Ritchie certainly did that for the University of Denver and the greater Denver community.
We are all eternally grateful for that.
Thank you, Dan.
Thank you for this write-up. I attended the memorial. Very well done and certainly when you have a Governor, Attorney General and Mayor all speaking at a memorial, the person (Dan Ritchie) was significant.
I witnessed the down period of the university (graduating in ’80) and the transformation orchestrated by Chancellor Ritchie is truly remarkable. To illustrate the decline of the university you can look at the Hotel & Restaurant Management School. In the late ’70s this school had over 350 majors/ students and by about 1990 this number was down to 100 or less (Oral History 1984-2014). And of course, there was no greater fundraiser than Dan Ritchie! I proudly tell people that most every new building at DU has a copper roof. That is not easily done!! Of course his role in elevating DU athletics back to Division I and NCAA championships was one of his major achievements.
I also liked your comment saying that outside of John Evans, Dan Ritchie is the most important person in the school’s history. I agree.
Thank you Dan.