Business Hall of Fame scholarship to honor banker Puzio

BOULDER — A memorial scholarship has been established by the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame to honor Jacob T. “Jake” Puzio III, a longtime board member of the organization and one of the region’s most respected banking leaders who died April 27 in Boulder at age 79.

The Jake Puzio Memorial Scholarship and others will be awarded Sept. 30 at the Jewish Community Center, 6007 Oleg Ave. in Boulder, when the hall’s 2026 class of honorees will be inducted. They include Gerry Agnes, Sally and Sandy Bracken, Becky Callan-Gamble and Dean Callan, Rene and Maria Cervantes, Rich Lopez and Denis Nock.

The scholarships will be awarded to Boulder County students pursuing business education at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business and at Front Range Community College, continuing the Hall of Fame’s mission to invest in the next generation of local business leaders.

Puzio served on the Hall of Fame’s board of directors and was a fixture in Boulder County’s banking community for more than five decades. He began his career at The Bank of Boulder in 1972 after serving as a captain and company commander in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including a tour in the Vietnam War from 1971 to 1972.

Over the following decades, Puzio led several Boulder County financial institutions, including Boulder Valley Bank and Trust, Community First Bank, Guaranty Bank and Trust and Colorado Capital. His influence shaped the local business landscape and helped countless entrepreneurs and businesses access capital and grow.

“Jake was the kind of leader who understood that banking was about people first and numbers second,” said Bonifacio “Boni” Sandoval, a commercial loan officer at Bank of Colorado Boulder and treasurer of the Hall of Fame board. “I had the privilege of serving alongside him on our board, and he brought the same steady hand and generous spirit to every room he entered. Creating this scholarship in his name is exactly how we want to remember him — by investing in the future of Boulder County the same way he invested in it for more than 50 years.”

Beyond banking, Puzio was a dedicated supporter of the CU Athletic Department, including serving as president of the Boulder Buff Club. He and his wife, Barbara, were named Golden Buffalo Scholarship Fund donors of the year in 2003. He also served on the boards of the Boulder Improvement District, Downtown Boulder Inc., Boulder Humane Society, Boulder Valley Hospital Foundation and the Downtown Management Commission.

Puzio’s family has requested that memorial contributions be made to the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 20728, Boulder, CO 80308, or to the Arly Kruse Educational Foundation, in care of Jack Kruse, 1226 Wildwood Circle, Boulder, CO 80305.

A celebration of life for Puzio was held June 4 at Folsom Field on the CU campus.

The Boulder County Business Hall of Fame, a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1992, has inducted more than 200 business leaders who represent the highest standards of business ethics, innovation and community commitment in Boulder County. Profiles of all alumni classes are available at halloffamebiz.com/alumni.

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