Publisher’s Notebook: A legend passes, but a legacy survives

It was quite a few years ago that I sat at a banquet table in Denver and saw Kenneth W. Monfort inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame.

His death Feb. 2 in Florida, after battling for years against emphysema and chronic bronchitis, reminded me of that night, as he graciously thanked those in attendance for the honor, seemingly shocked to be ranked with other esteemed honorees.

He was ill even then, but still possessed of that self-deprecating humor and good-naturedness that made him a legend in his native Greeley and throughout Colorado and beyond.

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Back then, I was employed at The Denver Business Journal, and that city was dominated by starched shirts and dark suits. It was a city trying to shed its cowtown image, so it was refreshing to see a business leader who embraced no image whatsoever, who simply was what he was. And he was one heck of a businessman.

I did not personally know Ken Monfort. But, like thousands of other Coloradans, I’ve admired him from afar.

Monfort was an easy choice for the Business Hall of Fame, and he was an easy choice last fall, when The Northern Colorado Business Report honored him with its Bravo! Entrepreneur Lifetime Achievement Award. The trophy for Bravo! Entrepreneur consists of a bronze statue of a man carving himself out of stone.

It’s the perfect image for an entrepreneur, and for Ken Monfort, who helped Monfort of Colorado grow into a Fortune 500 company before selling it to ConAgra Inc. in 1987.

Monfort piled up a long list of awards, including being named Citizen of the West by the National Western Stock Show in 1991.

Monfort and his wife, Myra, gave about $11 million to the University of Northern Colorado’s College of Business in 1999. The college now is known as the Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business.

He and his family have lent their name to a host of other organizations and worthy causes, including the Monfort Family Foundation, the Monfort Children’s Clinic, the Monfort Birthing Center at North Colorado Medical Center, the Monfort Concert Hall at the Union Colony Civic Center, the Monfort Elementary School, the Monfort Early Childhood Center and others.

The Monfort Family Foundation has contributed more than $23 million over the past 15 years, and the family has donated millions on top of that.

The Monfort family was ranked as the fifth-richest in Colorado a few years back, with an estimated $900 million.

That doesn’t begin to tell the story, however. The true story of Kenneth W. Monfort and his family is one of entrepreneurship, business acumen and philanthropy.

It would have been extremely easy for a family that had made its fortune to ease into the background, spending its money on lives of leisure. The Monforts haven’t done that, and it’s largely to Ken Monfort’s credit. He’s left a lasting legacy of giving that has carried on to his children and will carry on for years to come in the lives of Northern Colorado’s communities.