Alpine Bank founder Bob Young dies at 87, leaving legacy across Roaring Fork Valley and Colorado

Bob Young, the founder of Alpine Bank and one of the most influential figures in Western Colorado’s business and philanthropic landscape, died Dec. 11 in Florida, according to an Alpine Bank press release. He was 87.

Young, formally known as J. Robert “Bob” Young, spent more than five decades shaping Alpine Bank into one of Colorado’s largest locally-owned financial institutions, while also leaving a lasting imprint on education, health care, and community development throughout the Roaring Fork Valley and beyond.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, he earned a business administration degree from Wichita State University in 1961. He began his career as an assistant bank examiner with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. before moving to Denver in the mid-1960s, where he served as executive vice president of FirstBank of Colorado. During that time, he helped open FirstBank of Vail in 1968 and completed the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin.

In 1973, he and several partners founded Roaring Fork Bank in Carbondale, which later became Alpine Bank. From the outset, Young emphasized community banking rooted in personal relationships and local decision-making, a philosophy that continued as the bank expanded across Colorado.

Under his leadership, Alpine Bank grew to nearly 40 locations statewide, with $6.8 billion in assets. In 1983, he introduced an employee stock ownership plan, giving employees a direct stake in the bank’s future and reinforcing its long-term independence.

Alpine Bank President Glen Jammaron said Young’s vision for community banking reflected who he was as a person.

“Bob’s vision for community banking really reflected who he was as a person — that was people, caring about people and relationships,” Jammaron said. “The places Bob put a bank and the way he interacted with the community — they’re all better places to live, work and raise a family because of Alpine Bank and because of Bob’s vision.”

He said Young encouraged hands-on community involvement at every level of the organization.

“The dollars pale in comparison to the time and the energy that he really encouraged us all to put into the communities,” Jammaron said. “Bob didn’t decide from the upstairs office who we gave to. He let the folks involved in the communities decide what needed to be supported where they lived.”

That approach also shaped how Young mentored employees and leaders within the bank, Jammaron said, creating a culture centered on trust, relationships, and shared responsibility.

“Bob took a chance on me, and what I learned from him was really what it boils down to — we were still just people dealing with people,” he said. “That’s the real lesson, and that’s why I’ve stayed in banking. It’s because of the people — not because of the banking part — because of the folks we get to work with, the folks in our communities we get to help, and the customers we get to make a difference.”

Young’s civic involvement extended well beyond Alpine Bank. He served as president of the Colorado Bankers Association and spent more than 20 years on the Colorado State Banking Board after being appointed by Gov. Roy Romer in 1988. He stepped down from the board in 2007.

He was also deeply involved with Colorado Mountain College, serving on the CMC Foundation Board from 1999 to 2004 and remaining a consistent supporter of the college and its students. In 2009, he was among the first individuals to receive an honorary associate degree from Colorado Mountain College. He later established a legacy gift to benefit future CMC students and launched the Alpine Bank First-Generation Scholarship program that have supported hundreds of students statewide.

Kristin Colon, vice president for advancement and foundation CEO at CMC, said Young’s influence at the college went far beyond financial support.

“When I think about Bob, I think about how he embodied an ethos of giving and kindness and empowerment,” Colon said. “That ethos deeply impacted CMC, our mountain communities, and everything Bob was a part of.”

She said Young encouraged Alpine Bank leaders to stay involved in education and community institutions across the region, helping build a culture of long-term engagement.

“For 28 years now, we have partnered with Alpine Bank for the Alpine Bank scholarship,” she said. “More than 300 students have had the chance to receive an Alpine Bank scholarship, and many of those students now work at CMC or are leaders in our mountain communities.”

She said the impact of that support continues to ripple outward.

“That’s the beauty of philanthropy — it creates a lasting legacy,” Colon said. “Bob’s philanthropic support created not just buildings, but opportunities that changed students’ lives, their families’ lives and, ultimately, our communities.”

Young also played a significant role in health care philanthropy, including support for Valley View and the Calaway-Young Cancer Center in Glenwood Springs, which bears his name.

“We honor the life and legacy of Bob Young, whose compassion touched so many,” Valley View CEO Brian Murphy said in a statement. “With his support, the Calaway-Young Cancer Center was built to bring comprehensive, state-of-the-art cancer care to our community. His legacy will live on in every patient who finds strength and comfort within these walls.”

Longtime Roaring Fork Valley journalist and local John Stroud recalled Young’s willingness to support both large institutions and individual community members.

“I remember approaching Bob Young,” Stroud said. “I was a little intimidated going into the bank president’s office, but I explained what I was doing and why I was raising the money. He ended up giving me more than what I was asking for.”

Stroud, a cancer survivor himself, said that interaction reflected a broader pattern.

“He was known for giving big for those big projects,” he said. “But he also gave to the little things, too, and he was just amazingly generous with that.”

Away from banking and philanthropy, Young was an avid outdoorsman and an accomplished sports car racer. He began racing in the late 1960s with the Sports Car Club of America and competed regularly for four decades. His teams won multiple divisional titles, and he placed fifth in class at both the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Baja 1,000.

Jammaron described Young as “a hell of a race car driver to boot.”

“He drove race cars for a number of years,” Jammaron said. “He was quite successful in the race car world, too.”

Despite spending winters in Florida later in life, Young returned regularly to the Roaring Fork Valley, where he maintained close ties to the community and to Alpine Bank.

Young is survived by his children and extended family. His daughter, Margo Young-Gardey, serves on Alpine Bank’s Board of Directors and continues to live in the Roaring Fork Valley.