For a shy, quiet man, artist Edmundo Aguirre managed to collect a lot of friends.
Aguirre, who worked at The Denver Post for 38 years, died March 30 at his Lakewood home. He was 76.
A memorial is being planned.
The afternoon before he died, Post friends visited him “and he had one last margarita with the gang,” said Nancy Crimmins, special sections editor at The Post.
Post friends were Aguirre’s family — he included them in his Christmas parties and gave every guest a bottle of champagne when they left.
Christmas was big for Aguirre, who had the decorations up year-round in his basement and often played Christmas carols through the year.
Gift-giving never stopped. A dedicated catalog shopper, he bought gifts for his friends that could range from the traditional, such as flowers, to the odd.
“He gave me a bowling ball, bag and shoes for my wedding present,” Crimmins said.
His house was a collection of his own sketches, illustrations and portraits, plus “oddities, novelties” and even pinup models. “It wasn’t unlike a museum,” said Michael Behrenhausen, copy writer and editor for the Creative Services department.
Among the collection was a “stuffed armadillo and a saddle set with real guns,” Behrenhausen said. Aguirre loved the West and its movies, memorabilia and stars.
Still, Behrenhausen said, “his most treasured collection was the group of friends he gathered throughout his life.”
Aguirre insisted on paying for after-work drinks, though he also insisted on going only to bars that served Pinch Scotch.
He loved to give parties and often made nachos at work for colleagues, said Tim Dubus of Greenwood Village.
Edmundo Aguirre was born on Nov. 26, 1931, in Laredo, Texas.
He and his brother began drawing as children. “We were kind of poor, so after our mother washed the flour sacks we’d use them for canvases,” said his brother, Joe Aguirre of Tacoma, Wash.
Aguirre dropped out of high school to join the Air Force. Most of his service time was spent photographing Air Force events in this country, his brother said. Aguirre hated flying and never flew after leaving the service.
After the military, he attended art school in Dallas and then moved to Denver — a city he became attached to while stationed at Lowry Air Force Base.
He went to an art school here and then joined The Post as an advertising artist in 1958, retiring in 1996.
He worked mostly for the Creative Services department, but also did artwork for Empire magazine and the advertising department.
In his spare time, he made cardboard cutouts for a nativity scene, drew comic strips and portraits, and did sketches, chalk and pen and ink drawings.
For a while he had an Austin Healy sports car but got rid of it years ago and rode buses everywhere, said his niece, Gina Poteet of Atlanta.
In addition to his brother, Aguirre is survived by his sister, Leonor Aguirre of Laredo.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
