W. Morrison Obituary

Former Durango resident and businessman W. Douglas Morrison died at his Denver home Wednesday, March 25, 2009. He was 95.

Mr. Morrison was born to William Douglas and Carrie Morrison in Grand Junction on Nov. 6, 1913. He spent five years at the University of Colorado, where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and spent two years in law school. He then attended and graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

Upon his graduation, he sold stocks and bonds for J. Barth and Co. in San Francisco and Brown Schlessman Owen & Co. in Denver.

On April 15, 1942, at the beginning of World War II, Mr. Morrison enlisted in the Army. After attending Officer Candidate School, he became the fiscal director of the Jersey City Quartermasters Depot. By the end of the war in 1945, he was responsible for the payment of more than $1.5 billion in accounts and had 400 military and civilian personnel working for him.

His final assignment, and the one he considered most interesting, was preparing operating procedures for the Army-Navy Fiscal Office, which was established in New York City in 1946. Mr. Morrison was discharged at the rank of major.

After his release, he was the western sales manager for the Whitman Candy Co., with a territory that covered the United States from Detroit west. After 1947, most of Mr. Morrison's career was in industrial real estate. He first worked for Henry Van Schaack, where he was an industrial Realtor, until 1962, when he opened his own firm, Doug Morrison and Co.

At that time, he began his business career in Durango, starting with property development in Rio Grande Land. In 1963, Mr. Morrison purchased Durango's first AM radio station, KIUP (930). In 1972, he created Durango's first FM station, KRSJ (100.5). Eight years later, he sold both stations to former President Gerald Ford and Ambassador Leonard K. Firestone. They are now both owned by Four Corners Broadcasting.

Mr. Morrison was also part owner of the Grand Imperial Hotel in Silverton and a ranch northeast of Bayfield.

On Oct. 6, 1978, he married Lynnette Cole in Denver.

Mr. Morrison's daughter, Sara "Sally" Duncan at the time, was La Plata County's first woman county commissioner in the early 1980s.

Mr. Morrison was active in the community in a number of ways. He was the founder of the Hundred Club of Durango in 1975, after the August 1974 fire on Main Avenue. He was honored by the Hundred Club of Durango when he was 90. He was also a member of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks Lodge No. 507 in Durango.

Mr. Morrison owned a cabin at Electra Lake, where he enjoyed fishing.

For many years, the Morrisons maintained homes in both Durango and Denver.

Mr. Morrison was active in real estate organizations and served as national president of the Society of Industrial Realtors in 1969. He was also president of the American Chapter of the International Real Estate Federation and later a three-term president of the industrial section of the World Federation of Realtors, which he organized.

Mr. Morrison served in a number of civic and charitable organizations in Denver. At Park Hill Methodist Church, he served in many offices. He was past vice president of the Cherry Hills Country Club; past president of The Denver Club; a member of the board of directors of the Medical Care and Research Foundation and the Hundred Club of Denver; and a member of the board of trustees of the Mount Airy Hospital and of Temple Buell College (formerly Colorado Women's College).

Mr. Morrison is survived by his wife of more than 30 years, Lynnette Morrison, of Denver; son, Samuel Morrison of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; daughters Susan Kaufman of Oxnard, Calif., Sara Leonard of Denver and Sandra Morrison of Laramie, Wyo.; seven grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; two nieces and a nephew.

A service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 1, 2009, at University Park United Methodist Church. A private burial will take place at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Anchor Center for Blind Children, 2550 Roslyn St., Denver, CO 80238; or Porter Hospice, 5020 E. Arapahoe Road, Littleton, CO 80122.