In memoriam: Lew Cady

From Claire Smith at the Denver Post on August 8, 2013; Lew Cady was a SABR member since 1979 and active in the Rocky Mountain Chapter:

With his mountain man beard, magnetic gaze and outsize personality, Lew Cady operated at full tilt nearly all his life, pulling family and countless friends along in his wake. He died Aug. 4 at age 76.

Lewis Carter Cady was 8 years old when his family moved to Colorado, igniting eclectic interests.

Among his most legendary projects was his journal of Firsts and Lasts, that began with himself (first child born to his parents, 1937), first shot at the Wynkoop Brew Pub’s pool hall (1992), first to drink everything on the Wynkoop tap (2001), first purchase of SPAM ($1 in 1985 at a Safeway on South Colorado Boulevard), first to check out a book from the Denver Public Library’s new flagship (1995), and one of the first four people to drink a beer in every open bar on Colfax on Aug. 11, 1994 .

Beer was important to Cady. He had a craft beer in 50 brew pubs in 50 states, ordered Coors at the National Western Stock Show’s Cowboy Bar, and was livid when the Cowboy Bar added cosmopolitans to the menu.

Cady was a celebrated creative marketing director in Colorado and, for a few years in the 1960s, in New York, a city that matched his relentless drive.

Even there, Cady remained a mountain man. He once persuaded a half-dozen or so of his New York friends to fly to Denver, where everybody bought Levi’s and cowboy boots, and then drove to Central City, where Cady, in 1965, bought a house.

“Lew was not interested in being normal,” said his daughter, Jane Cady. “He was a collector of things. Beer cans. Songs about beer. Baseball trivia — not stats, but interesting, weird baseball trivia.

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Survivors include his wife Leslie Cady of Denver; daughters Jane Cady of Belfast, Maine and Sue Cady of Fairfax, Calif.; a brother, Steve Cady of Kingwood, Texas; and three grandchildren.

A celebration of his life will be held later in Central City.

Read the full article here: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_23799982/lew-cady-publisher-little-kingdom-come-legendary-creative



Originally published: August 8, 2013. Last Updated: August 8, 2013.