Noted Colorado developer John Worthington Madden Jr., 94, passed away peacefully Friday from natural causes at his home, his family announced.

“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of MOA (Museum of Outdoor Arts) Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus, John W. Madden Jr., a beloved figure in our family and community and a source of inspiration to many,” according to a statement. “Mr. Madden’s 94-year life journey was marked by dedication, compassion, generosity and a relentless pursuit of excellence in all that he set out to accomplish.”

Editor’s note: Below is a profile story that originally published in the Nov. 29, 2023, eEdition of the Denver Gazette. The full story can be found here.

John W. Madden Jr. enjoys his enviable views of 150 miles of Colorado’s Front Range, as he looks back on his long and illustrious life.

Madden, 94, is in hospice care at his home in Greenwood Village, the south Denver suburb he developed from the ground up.

Madden sired a closely knit family, built a real estate empire, curated venerable art collections, founded one of the nation’s front-running fitness clubs and constructed the Rocky Mountain region’s largest outdoor concert venue.

He was born on April 12, 1929, in Omaha to Doris and John Madden. His favorite childhood toys were building blocks — a fitting foundation for his career as a visionary builder of office parks and other commercial developments.

Madden graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1951. One of Denver’s eminent businessmen, Madden never shied from hard work.

Among his positions that most influenced him were his jobs at Omaha’s Joslyn Museum. As a teen, he worked at the art museum as a tour guide, as well as on the maintenance and construction crews and as a night watchman.

“I knew all the employees and all the paintings,” Madden said. “I learned about Rembrandt and Titian, and it was a grand way to get paid for an education in art.”

Madden’s early exposure to fine art informed and inspired his sensibilities as a developer. He founded the John Madden Co. in 1970 and moved his family to Colorado in 1971.

“Every building I’ve ever built, I bought the artwork first,” Madden said. “Art became our trademark.”

Together with his late wife — Marjorie Madden, whom he married in 1950 — and his daughter, Cynthia Madden Leitner, he founded the Museum of Outdoor Arts (MOA) in 1981. Madden collected and hobnobbed with some of the leading artists of the times, including Robert Rauschenberg and Henry Moore.

Madden — a lifelong music aficionado remembered for commanding the family’s stereo system — built Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre as a branch of the Museum of Outdoor Arts. From a natural bowl in the landscape, he constructed a state-of-the-art concert venue that seats 17,000 guests. Over the past 40-plus years, Fiddler’s Green has hosted many of the most admired musicians of every genre.

In 2012, in Palazzo Verde — his Greenwood Village office building — he opened the Madden Gallery to showcase his extensive collection of paintings, sculptures and antiques. He donated much of The Madden Collection to the University of Denver in 2014.

Madden developed commercial real estate projects not only in Colorado, but also in California, Arizona, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa and Michigan. His business endeavors yielded a personal fortune, a large portion of which he, in turn, donated.

One competitor, Walter (Buz) Koelbel, Jr., is president of Koelbel & Co., among Colorado’s longest continually operating real estate companies. Koelbel interfaced extensively with Madden developing south Denver over many years.

“I love the guy,” Koelbel said of Madden. “I have great respect for him because he is a true visionary with an instinctive sense about how to get things done. He matched that with being creative and an innovator, as well. Every one of his buildings was different and had an iconic nature. He was traveling the world to bring back materials other people weren’t even thinking about. He had to be a huge, calculated risk-taker.”

Koelbel noted Madden’s construction of Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre.

“He came up with the idea of Fiddler’s Green, and on that centrally located very valuable piece of dirt millions of people have been entertained with some of the best shows,” Koelbel said. “John Madden created places to please people, to energize people, and he inspired people like me to do things differently.”

He was preceded in death by his wife, Marjorie Putt Madden (2014), and is survived by his three children: Cynthia Madden Leitner, Scott Madden, J. Madden: grandchildren, Schuyler Madden, Blair Madden Bliss, Paul Leitner, Joseph Madden and Grace Madden: four great-grandchildren, Schuyler Madden, Lily Brown, Walter Madden, and Willow Bliss: sisters Jane Crosby and Susan Madden Lankford.