Doug Morrison, a longtime industrial real estate developer, died March 25 at his Denver home. He was 95.
A service is planned at 11 a.m. today at University Park United Methodist Church, 2180 S. University Blvd.
Morrison was extremely fit, driving until he was 93 and still going to the office last year. He didn’t do anything particular to keep in shape, said his wife, Lynnette, “and took only a half of a pill a day.”
Morrison, a native of Grand Junction, owned Doug Morrison and Co. and dealt in industrial properties such as warehouses and manufacturing facilities, said Brad Neiman, a friend for 40 years.
Neiman was a young man in his 20s when he began working for Morrison, and learned early that “he had an incredibly strong work ethic,” usually arriving at work before anyone else did.
“He was a charming man but a tough-minded businessman,” Neiman said.
When Morrison began in industrial real estate in 1947, it was a small field in Denver, said Nei man, “but it saw tremendous growth during Doug’s life.”
At one time, Morrison owned two radio stations in Durango, KIUP and KRSJ; was a land developer there; was part owner of the Grand Imperial Hotel in Silverton; and was part owner of a ranch north of Bayfield.
He was a director of the Hundred Club of Denver and founded the same club in Durango. The club takes over the mortgages and bills for spouses of firefighters, police officers and sheriff’s deputies who are killed in the line of duty.
W. Douglas Morrison was born on Nov. 6, 1913, served in the Army and earned a business administration degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Business.
He sold stocks and bonds for companies in San Francisco and Denver, was western sales manager for Whitman Candy Co. of Philadelphia and worked in Denver for Van Schaack real estate company.
He opened his own company in 1962.
Morrison was an officer in several real estate organizations, a board member of Mount Airy Hospital (now closed) and Colorado Women’s College (also closed).
He had four children with his first wife, Sue Orison. They later divorced. He married Lynnette Cole in 1978.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by three daughters, Sara Duncan of Denver, Susan Kaufman of Oxnard, Calif., and Sandra Morrison of Laramie; a son, Samuel Morrison of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
