DU Oral History - Daniel Ritchie, Chancellor of University of Denver

In part two of his interview, Daniel L. Ritchie discusses his first visit to Colorado during his freshman year of college. He shares how he came to love Colorado during a summer spent at Colorado University in Boulder studying economics on his own. Daniel describes his life-long interest in health and wellness along with stories of his friends Eddie and Margo Albert. He discusses bringing athletics at the University of Denver up to Level One and the efforts of himself and board members Joy Burns, Bill Coors, Otto Tshudi and Marion Gottesfeld to restructure athletics at DU including bringing back skiing and golf as well as adding Lacrosse. Daniel shares his perspective on his relationship with the board during his 16 years as Chancellor and his principle of a bottoms-up leadership style. He reflects on how he came to own an avocado ranch in Santa Barbara, California and the largest cattle ranch in Colorado. He shares his values and what motivated him to sell both ranches and donate roughly $100,000,000 to the University of Denver.