Local developer Walter “Buz” Koelbel, Jr. died from blood cancer on Sept. 19, Koelbel and Co. announced Tuesday. He was 72.

The news comes months after he announced his retirement from the family-owned real estate development firm his father founded in 1976.

He ran the company for 40 years before passing the business down to his son Carl Koelbel in April.

Under Buz Koebel’s time at the real estate firm, he oversaw the development of many projects along the Front Range including the healthcare incubator Catalyst HTI in RiNo, Village Center in the Denver Tech Center and Centennial Promenade along Interstate 25.

He worked on many residential communities such as Greenwood Village’s The Preserve, Grand County’s Rendezvous Colorado and Colorado’s first master-planned golf-course development Pinehurst Country Club. He also completed 10 affordable housing projects totaling more than 700 units of income-restricted housing.

“His long-term vision really stood out as special,” said John Kurowski of Kurowski Development Company, who built show homes to showcase solar and renewable energy design that were toured by thousands when The Preserve at Greenwood Village opened in 1993. “People driving past his neighborhoods today will see that they’re wrapped in a landscape fence concept that was totally novel at the time, and has become an asset for their residents as well as for people passing by.”

Koebel graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School and graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1974. He worked in property management in San Francisco for two years before returning to Colorado to join his father’s company.

He was named president of Koelbel and Co. in 1985.

His greatest pride was having his three sons Carl, Walt and Dean willingly join the real estate industry, his obituary said. All three have leadership positions in the company.

In an interview with The Denver Gazette in April, Carl said his father originally took him and his brothers to San Francisco and urged them not to get into real estate.

“Clearly, we listened,” his son joked.

When asked what lessons he’d take from his father in leading the development firm, Carl said it was “to be tenacious.”

“I think it’s the biggest one. With these deals, you get told ‘no’ a lot. Sometimes it’s by the city, sometimes it’s by a bank, sometimes it’s by equity,” his son said. “And you really need to continue to keep your focus on what you want to accomplish and fight through it. And if you do that, then you’re going to be successful.”

At the time, Carl said his father stepped down to travel more, play golf and serve as an advisor on projects rather than manage day-to-day operations.

“He was the consummate business professional,” said Robert August, president of the real estate marketing firm North Star Synergies, who had been Koelbel’s vice president for marketing during the 1990s, when The Preserve was coming out of the ground. “He had an attention to detail that always achieved the best results not just for builders and homeowners, but for surrounding communities as well.”

Koebel was also a cofounder of the Denver South Economic Development Partnership, Common Sense Institute and the High Line Canal Conservancy. He served on the board of many organizations in Colorado including the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, CU Real Estate Center and Economic Literacy Colorado.

His philanthropic contributions include donations to the University of Colorado, the Arapahoe Library District, Sewall Childhood Development Center, Junior Achievement, Denver Zoo, Rocky Mountain Public Media, Western Stock Show Association, Colorado Historical Foundation and Children’s Hospital of Colorado.

The family asks donations to be made to Junior Achievement or the High Line Canal Conservancy instead of flowers.

His memorial is set for Oct. 1 at Bethany Lutheran Church at 1:30 p.m. and will be live streamed.

He is survived by his wife of 41 years Sherri; his children Carl, Walt, Dean and Bethany Mihalcin; four siblings and 11 grandchildren.

Denver Gazette freelance reporter Mark Samuelson contributed to this report.