Gary Yourtz is one of those guys who is politeor old-fashioned — enough to open doors for ladies. He’s also well-connected enough to open the figurative doors that make important things happen.
At Shalom Park in Aurora, a not-for-profit continuum-of-care facility that has become a national model for implementing and perfecting the vision of “aging-in-place,” it is Yourtz’s far-sightedness that is literally opening doors to new or expanded services and programs designed with aging baby boomers in mind.
And for that, Yourtz was honored at Shalom Park’s 15th annual fundraising dinner held at the Grand Hyatt Denver.
The theme: Opening Doors. The net income: A record-setting $700,000.
A two-time chair of the Shalom Park board, Yourtz is a third-generation Denver native and the former owner and president of Du-Wald Steel Corp. In addition to his work with Shalom Park, he and his wife of 40 years, Terri, are active in such other groups as the Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center, the University of Denver Bridge Project, Rose Community Foundation and Allied Jewish Federation.
Yourtz may keep busy, but he never drops the ball.
As Jordon Perlmutter, founding chairman of Shalom Park and one of the chairmen of Opening Doors, put it: “During Gary’s reign we have flourished.” Marshall Abrahams, another of the dinner’s chairmen, credited Yourtz with leading Shalom Park to start work on a wellness and fitness center with aquatic center, exercise equipment geared to a senior population; salon services; and a community of 24 single-family homes.
Yourtz modestly deflected the praise and described his work as nothing more than logical thinking.
“The next generation of (Shalom Park) residents will be baby boomers who aren’t going to be satisfied with a few treadmills and a community room. We need to prepare for that.”
Bob and Robyn Loup were among the table hosts, filling theirs with such friends as Elaine and Dr. Steve Berman, Martin and Gloria Trotsky, and Jim and Diane Loup.
Other well-wishers: Essie Perlmutter; Helene Abrahams; Dan and Angela Japha; Jim Kurtz-Phelan and Ellen Stewart, attorneys for Shalom Park; Yana Vishnitsky, who is celebrating her 30th year with Jewish Family Service; Dick Tucker; Sandy Melnick; Irma and Leonard Strear; Elaine Wolf and Larry Nathan; Patty Lorie-Kupetz; Steve Chotin; Diane Huttner; Harold and Sue Miller Cohen; Len and Debbie Herz; Gary and Donna Antonoff; John and Amy Pregulman; Gary and Debbie Mandelbaum; Rabbi Richard Rheins; and Leslie Williams and Lisa Cook, whose Affair With Flair gave the hotel ballroom its festive look.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, blogs.denverpost/davidson
