Colorado real-estate developer and philanthropist Walter A. Koelbel Sr. died Sunday. He was 85.
He had been ill with Alzheimer’s disease for some time and died in hospice, his son Walter “Buz” Koelbel Jr. said Monday.
Koelbel is credited with shaping commercial and residential real-estate development in Colorado, beginning at the southern edges of Denver with Pinehurst Country Club, considered the first “master-planned” residential-golf community in the Rocky Mountain West.
In 1990, he bucked a national trend that favored walled-in residential developments with the Preserve at Greenwood Village, which included public trails leading to a 60-acre nature preserve at its center.
He is credited with master planning Inverness Business Park and developing other commercial areas along Interstate 25, including Centennial Promenade.
“He was an icon in Colorado’s real- estate industry, really smart and very committed,” said Bill Moore, former president and chairman of Moore and Company Real Estate, where Koelbel first worked after serving as a Navy officer in World War II. “Everything he did was positive.”
In 1952, Koelbel founded his own company with three employees. He grew Koelbel and Co. into one of the largest real-estate development, management and investment operations in Colorado.
Koelbel was a 1947 graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder school of business. He played tight end for the Buffaloes and was team captain in 1946.
He was a generous donor to CU. After a $4 million gift toward the $38 million renovation and expansion of the Leeds School of Business, the building was named for his family.
Koelbel helped develop CU’s Real Estate Center and also raised money to renovate the historic Macky Auditorium.
He served on boards that included Great Outdoors Colorado, the American Cancer Society, Sewall Rehabilitation Center Foundation, the State Historical Society, Colorado Women’s College, Goodwill Industries of Colorado and the Urban Land Institute.
He was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 2001.
The Koelbel Public Library in Greenwood Village is named for him.
“Walt was a ‘doer.’ He was selfless and indefatigable,” said Byron Koste, executive director at University of Colorado Real Estate Foundation. “He was generous, very generous. And he cared. He touched the lives of countless individuals and had a smile that could melt a rock. We have lost a gentle giant who had no equal.”
Koelbel is survived by his wife, Gene; sons Buz Koelbel and Robert Koelbel; daughters Lyn Stambaugh, Leslie Webb and Laurie Chahbandour; and 14 grandchildren.
Services are 10 a.m. Friday at Most Precious Blood Catholic Church, 2250 S. Harrison St. in Denver.
The family requested that in lieu of flowers, contributions should be sent to Sewall Child Development Center at 1360 Vine St., Denver CO 80206, or Goodwill Industries of Denver at 6850 Federal Blvd., Denver, CO 80221.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
