Tony Fortino, who began as a grocery clerk and became one of Pueblo’s visionary boosters, died from the effects of Alzheimer’s disease Oct. 4 at age 89.
Fortino was instrumental in getting a convention center for the city, and he pushed to get improvements at the airport and gave thousands of dollars to the fledgling Pueblo Community College.
Fortino’s “fingerprints are all over Pueblo,” said longtime friend Louis Carleo, who was Fortino’s real estate partner.
“He had a lot of passion for Pueblo,” said his wife, Barbara Fortino.
“He was a person who didn’t sit around and complain about how bad things are; he just made them better,” Carleo said.
Fortino was on the state highway commission and the Pueblo Development Foundation, was the first chairman of the Pueblo Crime Stoppers, and was on the Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority, among other organizations.
“He was an icon in Pueblo, a visionary,” said Alice Birch, marketing president of U.S. Bank. “I’ve said they should rename the city ‘Fortino,’ ” she said.
Fortino was active in helping bring new businesses to the city, cleaning up blighted areas and pushing for highway improvements.
For decades, Fortino got up at 5 a.m. and by 6 was at the Holiday Inn coffee shop. Everyone knew they could find him there if they wanted to talk to him.
“They’d brainstorm ideas, he’d listen to them, and the next thing you knew, the project was rocking and rolling,” Carleo said.
“It was like his second office,” Barbara Fortino said.
While on the highway commission, Fortino oversaw several huge highway projects, including T-REX. In pushing for the convention center, he put together a 32-acre site for it.
Even after his diagnosis, Fortino was eager to be out and moving, even if it was just driving around town.
“He loved to be on the go and loved to be involved,” his wife said.
Joseph Anthony Fortino was born in Pueblo on Oct. 31, 1921. He worked in his family’s grocery business, served in the Coast Guard for four years and came back to Pueblo, opening a used-car lot.
Eventually he joined Bob Jackson Chevrolet and later became Jackson’s partner. They sold the business in 2001, after 40 years together.
He married Barbara Moroney on June 26, 1978. In addition to her, he is survived by two daughters, Stacy Kinder of Lone Tree and Carol Fortino of Beulah; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
