When we received the news that Dave Kellogg had passed away on April 9, we immediately thought how fitting it was that just one month previous we honored him with our Lifetime Contribution Award at our annual Community Awards Luncheon. It took some doing, but were were able to make sure that Dave and his wife Carol were in attendance that day. Surely, it was meant to be.
In memory of Dave’s tremendous contributions to Lander over the past forty years, we share here the comments that our CEO Owen Sweeney made while awarding Dave.
“In 1984, after U.S. Steel permanently closed its Atlantic City iron ore mine, devastating Lander’s economy, a group of local leaders founded the appropriately-named Leader Corporation, which acted as Lander’s major economic development organization for the next three decades. Working closely with the Lander Chamber of Commerce and the Wyoming Business Council, Leader was credited with keeping Lander alive and on the map through some very agonizing times. Dave served as either president or co-president of Leader for ten of the organization’s thirty years, and he was instrumental in helping LEDA, Lander’s current economic development organization, get organized and get moving.
“Speaking of economic development, it was originally because of an economic development opportunity that Dave got involved in getting Wyoming Catholic College located in Lander. Dave was on the board of directors of the college for 15 years and served as chairman for about half of that time. His business acumen successfully guided the fledgling college through some perilous times, and it could be argued that the college could not have survived without his generosity and leadership. He and his wife Carol have donated the use of their apartment buildings as dormitories since Day One. (My family actually lived in those apartments for a time when we first moved to Lander in 2011 and had yet to find a home.) WCC honored Dave with its highest award a few years ago, and during a recent college banquet, while being honored for his retirement from the board, it was pointed out that he and Carol had donated more than $1 million to the college.
“It should be noted that, in addition to their involvement with Leader and Wyoming Catholic, Dave and Carol have been longstanding community leaders in support of the One Shot Antelope Hunt and in boosters of the the annual Lander Community Foundation Challenge for Charities campaign.
“Dave Kellogg has a deep love for Lander and this award is very fitting.”
May Dave rest in peace, and may his family and friends find consolation.
