James Landis "Lanny" Martin

1945 - 2023

Martin, James Landis "Lanny"
November 5, 1945 - September 1, 2023

James Landis "Lanny" Martin, devoted father and husband, accomplished businessman, philanthropist, and mentor to many died peacefully September 1, 2023. Lanny attributed his accomplishments in life to his upbringing in Grand Island, NE as the fifth of seven Martin children. Born November 5, 1945, he always sought to emulate qualities of his parents Jack and Lucile Martin. Jack, a vocational agriculture teacher and mayor of Grand Island, and Lucile were tireless community volunteers and leaders. Lanny excelled at sports and academics; he was student council president, team captain of many sports teams, and, like his parents, involved in the Grand Island community. At the suggestion of his high school counselor, Lanny applied to Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where he received generous financial aid. He had over twenty part-time jobs in college to fulfill scholarship work requirements and for "spend money" – bartending, lawn care, food server, bus driver, YMCA coach, dog breeder, maintenance worker, fraternity recruiter, construction worker, city parks leader, A.C. Nielson phone poller, tutor, and others. He continued to be an avid athlete leading his fraternity to multiple intramural sports championships. Lanny majored in economics and graduated in 1968 with his bachelor of science in business administration from the Kellogg School of Management. The fall after college, Lanny enrolled in Northwestern Law School, but before he could finish his first year, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Following basic training in Fort Ord, CA, Lanny received orders to go to Fort Sill, OK to serve the remainder of his two years as a dental technician. He again worked many extra jobs including bartending at the Officer's Club, teaching business law classes at the local junior college, and as a bookkeeper at the PepsiCo Bottling Company. He returned to law school where he tutored 1Ls, was active on the law review as an articles editor, and earned a juris doctor degree, cum laude, in 1973. Lanny joined the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis after law school graduation, practicing in the areas of M&A and business litigation. As a partner, Lanny served on Kirkland's executive committee and worked in the firm's Chicago and Washington, D.C. offices and then in Denver where he moved with his family in 1981. In 1987, Lanny represented a client in the corporate takeover of a Fortune 250 company which resulted in him leaving Kirkland to take a different business path. For the next 18 years, Lanny served as CEO of three public companies: Titanium Metals Corporation (TIMET); NL Industries, Inc., a specialty chemical producer; and Baroid Corporation, a diversified oilfield service business. Lanny served on several public and private company boards, often as chair or lead director, and was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2006, Lanny founded Platte River Equity, named after the river on which his hometown sits, a private equity firm focused on established, lower middle market company investments. Under his leadership, the firm raised funds with committed capital of more than $1.3 billion. Among those involved in PRE's founding were three of Lanny's fraternity brothers, who were among many fraternity brothers that Lanny remained close to in friendship and business. For decades, Lanny frequently hosted his Phi Psi "band of brothers" at annual ski and golf retreats.

High above all of Lanny's professional accomplishments lies what was always his top priority in life: his family. Lanny and Sharon met on a blind date and were married for 45 years; they have three daughters, Mary, Sarah, and Emily. The family loved to travel together and in recent years, Lanny and Sharon retreated to Paris and later London for two-week trips for their favorite type of travel, just the two of them. His daughters will remember their father for his humility, exceptional wisdom, keen and quick decision-making ability, encyclopedic memory, and sense of humor. He read the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers nearly every day of his adult life and quizzed the girls at the dinner table about current events. Lanny was an outstanding grandfather to nine grandchildren who will remember his advice, work ethic, throwing a ball in the yard, and family time together in Wickenburg, AZ and Vail. There are innumerable friends and community organizations who will miss Lanny's friendship and partnership. Since 1999, Lanny served on the Northwestern University Board of Trustees; he was Chairman from 2017 to 2022 and a life member of the Northwestern School of Law Board. Lanny served on the Denver Art Museum Board beginning in 1994 and became Chairman of the Board and Endowment in 2013. He was Chairman of Central City Opera from 1987 to 1994 as well as Chairman and President of the Houston Grand Opera in the 1980's while commuting to his workplace in Houston. He was Chairman of the Board at Bonfils-Stanton Foundation and served on and led several other charitable boards. Lanny's unwavering dedication to philanthropy was reflected through his and Sharon's incredible generosity to many organizations including Northwestern University, Denver Art Museum, Clyfford Still Museum, MCA Denver, History Colorado, Central City Opera, National Western Stock Show, Denison University, Graland Country Day School, Denver Academy, St. Anne's Episcopal School, St. Elizabeth's School, and Grand Island Senior High School, among many others. At his former high school, Lanny made contributions towards the school's renovated Jack Martin Field football stadium and facilities and established over a dozen scholarships including one named after Bob Hamblet, a 4-year scholarship to Northwestern, in honor of the man who encouraged Lanny to consider Northwestern. Over the years, Lanny and Sharon made gifts to Northwestern to support athletics facilities on the main campus and an endowed professorship at the law school. Lanny and Sharon's transformative gift to the Denver Art Museum led the campaign to raise funds for the North Building revitalization and was the largest single gift in the museum's history.

Lanny leaves behind his beloved wife, Sharon; his three daughters and their husbands, Mary and Kent Lester, Sarah and Andrew Stettner, and Emily and Matt Jones; his nine grandchildren, Hannah and Taylor Lester, Riley, Cooper, Wyatt, and Duke Stettner, Hudson, Weston, and Emma Jones; three siblings, Dianne Barker (Dave), Tom Martin (Kathy), and Janet Benson; additional siblings-in-law, Suzanne Whitmore, Bob Noah, and Vera Martin; and more than 100 extended family members who gather every year on Memorial Day for a larger-than-life reunion that Lanny sponsored for many years. To honor Lanny's legacy of giving and deep commitment to his community, in lieu of flowers, the Martin family encourages you to give back generously to the charitable causes that are important to you and where you can have the greatest impact.

A Celebration of Life will be Friday, October 20, 2023, 4pm at the Denver Art Museum. Parking will be provided in the Cultural Center Complex Garage (65 W 12th Ave, Denver, CO 80204). Live stream the celebration at: https://denverartmuseum.org/lanny-martin.