Peter H. Coors, chairman of Molson Coors Brewing Co. and MillerCoors, has been named the 2011 Citizen of the West for the National Western Stock Show.
The award is given annually to people who “embody the spirit and determination of the western pioneer, and who are committed to perpetuating the West’s agricultural heritage and ideals,” the stock show stated in Thursday’s announcement.
Recipients are selected by a committee of community leaders.
Coors will accept the award Jan. 10 at the Sheraton Denver Downtown hotel during the 16-day stock show.
“Without Pete, the Rockies and Coors Field would not be here,” Jerry McMorris, chairman of the stock show, said in the release. “Our state, region and country are better because because of Pete Coors and the leadership he has provided.”
Pete Coors will not be the first member of his family to receive the award.
Bill Coors, his uncle, was named Citizen of the West in 1992.
This is the second family to have two generations receive the award.
Gov. John Love and his wife, Ann, were honored in 1987, and their daughter and her husband, Becky and Tom Kourlis, received the 2010 award.
Other past recipients include Sen. Hank Brown, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White, Vice President Dick Cheney and former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson.
Robert “Red” Fenwick, a roving reporter with The Denver Post, was the first person to win the award, in 1978.
Among many titles, Coors serves as a trustee and member of the executive board of the Denver Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, a member of the National Western Stock Show Association executive committee, and a board member of the Johnson and Wales University Corp. and the Denver Art Museum Foundation.
“He is a true Citizen of the West,” McMorris said.
Adam Singleton, The Denver Post
