From the gold-topped Ritchie Center to the prestigious Daniels College of Business, outgoing chancellor Daniel Ritchie has left his fingerprints all over the University of Denver campus.
When he steps down Thursday as chancellor, he’ll depart from a university that’s in much better shape – from its physical to its fiscal state – than the one he inherited.
If his career was a western, Ritchie would be saddling up his horse Doc to survey his 60,000-acre ranch at sunset. Instead, his storybook ending will be a quiet evening stroll across DU’s drastically changed campus.
Ritchie literally bet the ranch on his ability to turn around one of Colorado’s top universities, and we’re glad he did. He not only changed the physical face of DU, he saved its flagging reputation. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t sure he’d be able to reverse the tide of shrinking enrollment and dwindling alumni support when trustees lured him out of retirement – quite literally plucking him off his horse.
Ritchie made his fortune as chief of Columbia Savings and Loan and later as CEO of Westinghouse Broadcasting. He was living the good life on his ranch when DU came calling.
“I expected to spend the rest of my life ranching,” he said. “I wanted to die there. I loved that ranch. But I loved the University of Denver more.”
The sale of his ranch near Kremmling netted $50 million for the school, allowing him to create its well-respected business college and make other improvements. He also attracted some big-monied donors to the school, persuading them to give millions. A gift of $10 million from Bob and Sharon Magness enabled the creation of the Ritchie Center, named in his honor.
During his tenure, DU’s enrollment has nearly doubled, fundraising has gone through the roof and there’s a new sense of pride.
The pride emanates from the top. A photo of Ritchie in Monday’s Denver Post explained it all. The well-dressed chancellor was bending over to pick a dandelion that had the gall to invade his well-groomed campus.
His successor, provost Robert Coombe, can draw upon Ritchie’s ongoing commitment to the university – Ritchie will serve as chairman of DU’s board of trustees. Indeed, Coombe may find it hard to escape the long shadows of a man who served DU for free – not only as a world-class leader but gardener to boot.
Coombe will be taking on quite a different task than did Ritchie 16 years ago. Coombe must build on Ritchie’s exhaustive and exhausting legacy.
