Hillsdale College trustee Jeff Coors, president and CEO of Golden Technologies Company Inc., was honored with the Thomas A. Roe Award from the State Policy Network at their annual meeting. At a formal dinner in Denver, in front of a crowd of over 900 SPN affiliates — representatives from 48 state institutions and over 60 partner SPN organizations — SPN awarded Coors with the honor.
“He is a champion and exemplar of the virtue of self-reliance, yet his eyes and heart are always open to lend a hand to an underdog struggling to gain independence,” SPN President Tracie Sharp said. “He is a steadfast defender of equal economic opportunity for all.”
The Roe Award, named after the late Thomas A. Roe Jr., founder of SPN, is awarded annually to an individual or individuals in the state public policy movement advancing free market philosophy at the state level.
“He [Roe] saw the value of an intellectually rigorous policy center in each state — a place where freedom lovers would shape outcomes,” SPN Vice President of Strategy Lynn Harsh said. “In 1989, a mere handful of people said ‘yes,’ and gathered in a room together to expand their influence. Thanks to Tom’s foresight and determination, more than 900 of us gathered this year in Denver at SPN’s 22nd annual meeting.”
“A long time ago, he [Coors] invited a whole bunch of people who worked in the conservative movement – including me – to come to Colorado Springs, put us all up, and got us all talking about how we could make strategic changes,” President Larry Arnn said. “He put on a program…and all of that was just to try to make us all better. And he’s been doing things like that forever, and it’s one of many reasons he deserves this award.”
Previous award recipients have included Joe Lehman of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, Kevin Gentry of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, and many other liberty-advancing individuals.
In his capacity as a Hillsdale College trustee, Coors also acted as a co-chair for Hillsdale’s Founders Campaign, the capital campaign started in the early 2000s to raise $400 million for the school, and held this position for other capital campaigns as well.
“Jeff Coors has been a chairman of every capital campaign in the modern history of Hillsdale College including the current one,” Arnn said. “He is kind and self-effacing and talented and tireless.”
Coors has been a Hillsdale College trustee since 1985, just one of the many positions he has held that show his dedication to spreading the philosophy of freedom and free markets.
“When everything is taken care of by government, the spirit of voluntary commitment is lost,” Coors said in a 1993 issue of Imprimis discussing corporate stewardship.
He continued later in the piece: “Give privately, not seeking recognition for your work; it is for others’ benefit, not your own, that you are giving.”
It is because of this principle identified by Coors so many years ago that Coors was awarded the Roe Award this year. His quiet, continual support of the greater good without seeking praises was recognized and received a well-deserved standing ovation.
