Lennar exec Kayl dies after ATV flips
Clenten P. Kayl Jr., Denver division president of Lennar Homes, died Saturday when his all-terrain vehicle flipped over backward on a steep hill in Summit County.
Kayl, 56, was an experienced ATV driver. His Polaris Sportsman fell violently on an incline near Wise Mountain on Saturday afternoon. Though Kayl was wearing a helmet, the impact caused a fatal head injury.
Originally from South Dakota – Kayl enjoyed bragging that then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey was his high school’s commencement speaker – he and his wife came to Colorado in 1982, with only a pop-top camper and two small children.
“He said, ‘Well, I can always work in a lumberyard,”‘ recollected his wife, Cynthia. The Kayls spent six weeks living in their camper at a KOA campground that is now the Larkridge shopping center north of Denver.
A former contractor and store manager, Kayl worked for a while at a local lumberyard before U.S. Home hired him as a job superintendent. He worked his way up to purchasing and made the transition to division president at Lennar Homes, which bought out U.S. Home.
“He was humble, but internally, I think he was a very confident individual,” said Mark Brown, a longtime friend and colleague at Lennar Homes.
“It’s hard to find people with the kind of wisdom and clear vision that Clenten always seemed to have. And he wasn’t all work. He enjoyed travel, enjoyed history, enjoyed the outdoors, and he enjoyed all those activities with his close friends and family.”
On property the Kayls own near Jefferson, he kept more than a dozen pieces of antique farming equipment that he hauled there from South Dakota. He loved being outdoors – hunting elk and pheasant, and fishing for salmon in Canada.
He and his wife went on many ATV trips in Utah and Colorado. Kayl took particular pride in navigating his ATV to the summit of 14,296-foot Mount Antero.
Funeral services are pending. In addition to his wife of 34 years, he is survived by daughters Chrissy Kayl of Aurora, Carrie Kayl of Denver and Catherine Kayl of Fort Collins.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
