Honestly, the Mizel Museum could give its Community Cultural Enrichment Award to a brick wall and still sell out a venue the size of Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum.
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It hasn’t come to that – award recipients, like 2005’s Cortlandt Dietler, are both popular and deserving – but between a legendary arm-twister like Larry Mizel and the well-connected friends that he puts in charge of this annual fundraiser, everyone in Colorado’s power circles knows full well this invitation is not one to take a pass on.
The dinner is the place to see and be seen, whether you’re a deal-maker, networker or just there to schmooze.
Vice President Dick Cheney was the honorary chairman, and while he did not attend, he sent a videotaped message of congratulations to his pal Dietler. “Obviously, we would have liked to have had him stay over for this (Cheney had been in Colorado a day or two before) but he didn’t listen to an old Democrat like me,” mused attorney Steve Farber, who chaired the dinner with Denver Art Museum board member Charlie Gallagher.
Gov. Bill Owens, U.S. Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar and mayors John Hickenlooper and Ed Tauer also were on the honorary committee, while members of the executive committee included A-Listers such as Nancy and Phil Anschutz; Marcy and Bruce Benson; Marilyn, Peter, Rita and Bill Coors; Arlene and Barry Hirschfeld; Kathleen and Bill Hybl; Jan and Frederick Mayer; Marcia and Dick Robinson; Fran and Ray Baker; Steve Chotin; Connie and Gary Levine; Ann and Hal Logan; Debbie and Jimmy Lustig; Janet and Bob Manning; and Charlotte and Tim Travis.
The event raises upward of a half-million dollars each year, thanks to the support of such guests as Ernie Blake and his wife, Sharon Magness Blake; John and Anna Sie; Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey; District Court Judge Phil Figa and his wife, Candy; Denver Chamber of Commerce honcho Joe Blake and his wife, Elizabeth; Glenn Jones and Dianne Eddolls; Shaul and Laura Gabbay; Peter and Cathy Culshaw; Barry and Bruce Akrongold; and Mark and Sally Murray.
Others in the crowd of 1,600: U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez; gubernatorial hopefuls Bill Ritter and Marc Holtzman; state Rep. Alice Borodkin; Denver City Councilwoman Carol Boigon; Norm Brownstein; Rick and Sheila Bugdanowitz; Dick Tucker and Sandy Melnick; Tom and Ravelle Kundinger; Walt and Sandy Yearick; Ed and Pam Diamond; Jim Bien and Judith Ann Newman; Sister Lydia Peña; Avi and Corinne Brown; Peter and Bonnie Kudla; Paul Esserman; Marshall and Nanette Fishman; and Andy and Pat Loewi.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.More online: Additional photos from the Mizel Museum Dinner. denverpost.com
