John Ortiz: a history of service

Molson Coors Brewing Company held a retirement party for their long-time employee of forty years, Facility Maintenance Manager John Ortiz, who is also a volunteer and contributor to the Latino community. Those who attended his retirement party included President Stephen Jordan of the Metropolitan State College of Denver and Leo Kiely, Chief Executive Officer of Molson Coors Brewing Company.

When asked what his brightest moment at Coors was, Ortiz reminisced about his involvement with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. He said that he had the opportunity to attend a national convention held by the organization in Washington state where seven of that years‘ award recipients were Hispanic. Ortiz wanted to get the autographs of the award recipients and approached one of them, Jose Rodriguez, who responded by saying that if he wanted his autograph. He (Ortiz) would have to give him and the rest of the recipients a Coors polo shirt like the one he was wearing.

John Ortiz traces his initial involvement with the Hispanic community to his relationship with Bill Coors. Ortiz says that in a conversation with Coors, he asked him, “What can I do for you Mr. Coors, because you have been so good to me?” Coors responded by saying, “There is something you can do for me, why don’t you go to the Hispanic community and find out why they hate us so much and how we can help them.”

His friendship with Coors is one of the reasons why Ortiz nominated him for the Patriot’s Awards. It is one of the highest award a civilian can receive in this country.

“Help people get jobs and maybe get Coors to do stuff with the community; help people and Coors in a ...