When Nathan Yip was alive, he was a natural-born leader, one of those amazing individuals whose smarts and charisma drew people to him. He never met a stranger, no matter where his travels took him.
Nathan inherited those qualities from his parents, Aurora residents Linda and Jimmy Yip, whose own caring ways had earned them a worldwide circle of friends, friends who eventually helped sustain them in the dark days that followed the tragic automobile accident that claimed Nathan’s life in 2002, when he was just 19.
And it is that ever-expanding network of friends that has enabled the Yips to continue Nathan’s dream of bringing education and other assistance to the poorest of the poor in remote areas of China, Mexico and Africa. The Nathan Yip Foundation has built four schools, an orphanage, two children’s homes and provided numerous scholarships, thanks to money raised at an annual dinner held in Denver.
The 2008 edition, held Feb. 2 at the Cable Center, had a record 400 guests and netted more than $200,000. Emcee was 7News anchor Anne Trujillo.
Some of the highlights:
Other guests were Denise Gliwa and Suzie Robinson, whose husband, Frank Robinson, is a founding partner of the Denver law firm Otten Johnson Robinson Neff & Ragonetti. Denise’s husband, Kevin Gliwa, is a partner in the firm and had to pass on the dinner because he was in Vail getting his first peek at the company’s new office there.
Anne and Bob Sneed of the Sneed Family Foundation brought a large group for the second year, including daughters Kate, a recent Colorado College grad, and Alison, who works for Daniel Edelman Public Relations; and Lindsay Stolberg and Grayson Heller, recent CU grads who will wed at the Brown Palace this fall.
Okie Arnot of Keller Williams Realty bought a corporate table, but her longtime partner, Dennis Johnson, was being honored the same night as the Colorado Association of Realtors’ Realtor of the Year and was unable to attend.
Society editor Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also,
