Obituaries

Joe Lubar Blazed Independent Path

His parents find there was a whole new side of Joe they didn't even know was there.

Throughout his too-short life, Joe Lubar was known for his independence and character. It turns out that even his parents did not know the depth of that character and the many lives he touched.

A scion of the well-known Lubar family – his grandfather, the philanthropist Sheldon Lubar, founded the family investment firm Lubar & Co., of which his father is now president – Joe could have had it all very easily.

Instead, he chose to plot his own course, pursuing baseball before banking and choosing and keeping his friends based on their character.

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One avocation in which Joe would not have been called a risk-taker, though, was skiing.

Joe had been skiing since he was 3 years old, and had taken yearly ski trips with family and friends. While he would look for challenging slopes, he was never reckless, never interested in "X Games" style skiing, members of his family said.

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On Jan. 25, on an expert slope at Copper Mountain in Colorado, Joe took a terrible fall. He suddenly came upon a large drop-off, and fell far down the mountain.

Two friends had emergency medical training and got to him quickly, but his injuries were severe. Joe was taken to a local hospital, and when his injuries could not be treated there, he was flown to a medical center. But he had sustained severe head injuries and slipped into a coma.

On Feb. 11, he passed peacefully. The 21-year-old is survived by his mother Madeline, father David, brother Patrick and sister Hannah.

"I’m going to miss the opportunity to see what kind of life he would have built for himself, because I think he would have done something terrific," Madeline Lubar said. "I’ll always have the memories of the cute stuff, the pictures – I’m just going to miss the chance to see what he would have done."

Baseball, and much more

Joe played on a competitive club baseball team at the University of Denver, where he was so loved by his teammates they retired his jersey number, 9, in his memory.

His mother described how Joe began his passion for baseball.

He started by throwing the baseball against the back of the couch in the basement, she said. Then, his parents decided that baseball shouldn't be played in the house, and he began practicing his pitching against the garage door. The door wound up taking quite a beating, leading to a crack.

"We had to switch him to softer balls," Madeline remembered.

Joe became a star pitcher here for his University School team and was the No. 1 starting pitcher for the University of Denver team.

But that self-taught ambition was not only reserved for baseball. Joe did nearly everything this way, including learning to play the drums. His father, David Lubar, recalled Joe's first time with a drum set.

"He decided he wanted to play drums, and a friend of ours helped him set up a drum set," David Lubar said. "The guy's an accomplished drummer, and Joe had to rearrange the drum set because he wanted it the way he wanted it, even though it wasn’t optimally set up for an experienced drummer.

"He was an independent thinker. He learned by doing, and he learned by experiencing the way he wanted."

Joe's life did not revolve around sports, even though his father sits on the board of directors for the Milwaukee Brewers and Joe had opportunities to hang out around major leaguers. Owner Mark Attanasio called Joe a "true baseball lover" in this statement.

"I think he made a point when he was going off to college to not over-focus on baseball as the only thing he was going to do with his life," Madeline Lubar said. "But he knew he wanted to keep playing."

Independent in every way

Joe was majoring in economics in his third year at Denver. He had also just returned from studying abroad in Geneva, Switzerland, where he wrote and helped edit for "International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development," a non-governmental organizational publication.

Hannah, Joe's sister, said that they had asked him if he would be interested in joining the family business, but he had decided, "Not yet."

"I think he wanted to get his own job and path first, but I always thought he would work with my dad," Hannah said.

A Caring Bridge website has been started in Joe's memory (search joelubar).  Numerous testimonials and personal stories have been posted by those whose lives Joe touched.

Through those stories, and through everything Joe's parents have learned throughout this tragic experience, is that there was another side to Joe.

"The postings on the website that are so striking are examples or stories of Joe befriending people outside his group of friends. Kids that felt kind of swept aside by the ‘cool group’ or this group or that group, and how Joe just was accepting of them and befriended them," his father said.

"It's just really heartwarming when you realize how many friends he really had," Madeline said. "We learned so much from reading those postings and from meeting some of the kids he’s made friends with at DU and here, and just hearing their stories.

"It’s like you think you know your child, and then you see this other dimension."

Joe was 21 years old when he passed away, but his memory will be preserved by many more than his family members. Nearly 1,539 visitors to the website have written their memories of Joe and their condolences to his family.


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