Pete Coors
Encyclopedia
Peter Hanson Coors is a U.S.
businessman and entrepreneur. He currently is the Chairman of the Molson Coors Brewing Company
and Chairman of MillerCoors
, a joint operating venture, announced October 9, 2007 and completed June 30, 2008. Molson Coors headquarters are located in Colorado and Montreal, and MillerCoors is headquartered in Illinois. In October 2006, Coors was appointed by the University of Colorado Hospital
Board of Directors as chairman of the board for the new University of Colorado Hospital Foundation.
, Coors graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy
and then from Cornell University
with a degree in engineering
. A member of the Psi Upsilon
Fraternity, Coors was elected to the Sphinx Head Society during his final year at Cornell. He also received his MBA from the University of Denver
in 1970.
, and he is a multimillionaire.
In 1997, Coors was granted an Honorary Doctorate from Johnson & Wales University
. He is also a member of the university's Board of Trustees.
In 1993 Coors became vice chairman and CEO of the company, and in 2002 he was named Chairman of Coors Brewing Company and Adolph Coors Company
. In 2004, Pete Coors "made $332,402 in salary and a $296,917 bonus as chairman of Adolph Coors. He also received 125,000 stock options with a potential value of $13 million," according to the Rocky Mountain News
. However, Coors stepped down temporarily from these positions in 2004 to run for the US Senate. After the 2005 merger with Molson
, Coors became a Class A Director in the newly formed Molson Coors Brewing Company.
He has served on the boards of U.S. Bancorp
, H. J. Heinz Company
, HOBY
(Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership) Colorado, and Energy Corp. of America. He is also involved in civic organizations such as the Denver Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America
and the National Western Stock Show
Association. Coors is also part of the ownership group of the Colorado Rockies
.
, the brewing
entrepreneur, and the son of Joseph Coors
.
Coors is also a member at Augusta National Golf Club
in Augusta, Georgia
declared in 2004 that he was retiring, Coors announced his candidacy. His opponent in the primary election
was another conservative, former congressman Bob Schaffer
. In their primary, the two candidates got into an ideological battle, as Schaffer attacked Coors because his company had provided benefits to the partners of its gay
and lesbian
employees, in addition to promoting its beer in gay bar
s. Coors defended himself by saying that he was opposed to same-sex marriage
, and supported a constitutional amendment
to ban it, although he noted that he supported civil unions for gay couples. According to the Rocky Mountain News, Coors described his company's pro-LGBT
practices as "good business, separate from politics." He defeated Schaffer with 61% of the vote in the primary, with many analysts citing his high name recognition in the state as a primary factor.
Coors faced Democrat
and Colorado Attorney General
Ken Salazar
in the November 2004 election, but Coors was defeated by a margin of 51% to 47%.
According to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics
(CPS), Coors gave his own campaign $1,213,657 and received individual donations of $60,550 from other Coors family members. He was mentioned as a possible contender in the 2008 Senate election.
on suspicion of driving under the influence
and registering a blood alcohol level higher than the legal limit (0.088). Coors commented on the incident, saying, "I should have planned ahead for a ride. For years, I've advocated the responsible use of our company's products. That's still my message, and our company's message. I am sorry that I didn't follow it myself."
On August 25, 2006, Coors pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of driving while impaired. A judge sentenced Coors to 24 hours of community service
, a suspended fine and ordered him to undergo alcohol education courses.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessman and entrepreneur. He currently is the Chairman of the Molson Coors Brewing Company
Molson Coors Brewing Company
Molson Coors Brewing Company is a company that was created by the merger of two of North America's largest breweries: Molson of Canada, and Coors of the United States, on February 9, 2005...
and Chairman of MillerCoors
MillerCoors
MillerCoors is a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Company, announced on October 9, 2007. The joint venture has the responsibility of selling brands such as Miller Lite, Miller High Life, Miller Genuine Draft, Coors, Coors Light, Molson Canadian, and Blue Moon in the United...
, a joint operating venture, announced October 9, 2007 and completed June 30, 2008. Molson Coors headquarters are located in Colorado and Montreal, and MillerCoors is headquartered in Illinois. In October 2006, Coors was appointed by the University of Colorado Hospital
University of Colorado Hospital
University of Colorado Hospital is the principal teaching hospital for the University of Colorado Denver, located in Aurora, Colorado.In the most recent U.S. News and World Report hospital rankings, UCH ranked in the top 50 for 7 of 16 medical specialities.In 2005, UCH was redesignated by the ...
Board of Directors as chairman of the board for the new University of Colorado Hospital Foundation.
Early life
Born in Golden, ColoradoGolden, Colorado
The City of Golden is a home rule municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the edge of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush on 16 June 1859, the mining camp was...
, Coors graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
and then from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
with a degree in engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
. A member of the Psi Upsilon
Psi Upsilon
Psi Upsilon is the fifth oldest college fraternity in the United States, founded at Union College in 1833. It has chapters at colleges and universities throughout North America. For most of its history, Psi Upsilon, like most social fraternities, limited its membership to men only...
Fraternity, Coors was elected to the Sphinx Head Society during his final year at Cornell. He also received his MBA from the University of Denver
University of Denver
The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....
in 1970.
Career
He has worked all of his life in various positions at his family's Coors Brewing CompanyCoors Brewing Company
The Coors Brewing Company is a regional division of the world's fifth-largest brewing company, the Canadian Molson Coors Brewing Company and is the third-largest brewer in the United States...
, and he is a multimillionaire.
In 1997, Coors was granted an Honorary Doctorate from Johnson & Wales University
Johnson & Wales University
Johnson & Wales University is a private, nonprofit, co-educational, career-oriented university with four campuses located throughout the United States. Providence, Rhode Island, USA, is home to JWU's first and largest of four currently operating campuses. Founded as a business school in 1914, by...
. He is also a member of the university's Board of Trustees.
In 1993 Coors became vice chairman and CEO of the company, and in 2002 he was named Chairman of Coors Brewing Company and Adolph Coors Company
Adolph Coors Company
The Golden, Colorado Adolph Coors Company was formerly a holding company controlled by the heirs of founder Adolph Coors. Its principal subsidiary is the Coors Brewing Company. It was founded in 1873....
. In 2004, Pete Coors "made $332,402 in salary and a $296,917 bonus as chairman of Adolph Coors. He also received 125,000 stock options with a potential value of $13 million," according to the Rocky Mountain News
Rocky Mountain News
The Rocky Mountain News was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427...
. However, Coors stepped down temporarily from these positions in 2004 to run for the US Senate. After the 2005 merger with Molson
Molson
Molson-Coors Canada Inc. is the Canadian division of the world's fifth-largest brewing company, the Molson Coors Brewing Company. It is the second oldest company in Canada after the Hudson's Bay Company. Molson's first brewery was located on the St...
, Coors became a Class A Director in the newly formed Molson Coors Brewing Company.
He has served on the boards of U.S. Bancorp
U.S. Bancorp
U.S. Bancorp is a diversified financial services holding company, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States based on $330 billion in assets. U.S. Bank ranks as the sixth largest bank in the U.S. based on...
, H. J. Heinz Company
H. J. Heinz Company
The H. J. Heinz Company , commonly known as Heinz and famous for its "57 Varieties" slogan and its ketchup, is an American food company with world headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Perhaps best known for its ketchup, the H.J...
, HOBY
Hoby
Hoby may refer to:* HOBY, a youth organization* Hoby Brenner , former American football tight end* Hoby, a village in Hoby with Rotherby parish, in Leicestershire, EnglandPeople with the surname Hoby:...
(Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership) Colorado, and Energy Corp. of America. He is also involved in civic organizations such as the Denver Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
and the National Western Stock Show
National Western Stock Show
The National Western Stock Show is held every January at the National Western Complex in Denver, Colorado. First held in 1906, it is the world's largest stock show by number of animals and offers the world’s only carload and pen cattle show in the historic Denver Union Stockyards.The stock show is...
Association. Coors is also part of the ownership group of the Colorado Rockies
Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies are a Major League Baseball team based in Denver, Colorado. Established in 1991, they started play in 1993 and are in the West Division of the National League. The team is named after the Rocky Mountains...
.
Personal life
Coors is married to Marilyn Coors (née Grosso) and has six children. He is the great-grandson of Adolph CoorsAdolph Coors
Adolph Herman Joseph Coors, Sr. was a brewman who started the Adolph Coors Company in Golden, Colorado in 1873.-Early years:...
, the brewing
Brewing
Brewing is the production of beer through steeping a starch source in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BCE, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt...
entrepreneur, and the son of Joseph Coors
Joseph Coors
Joseph Coors, Sr. , was the grandson of Adolph Coors and president of Coors Brewing Company. -Birth and education:...
.
Coors is also a member at Augusta National Golf Club
Augusta National Golf Club
Augusta National Golf Club, located in Augusta, Georgia, is a famous men's golf club. Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts and designed by Alister MacKenzie on the site of a former indigo plantation, the club opened for play in January 1933. Since 1934, it has played host to the annual...
in Augusta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
Senate run
When U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse CampbellBen Nighthorse Campbell
Benjamin Nighthorse Campbell is an American politician. He was a U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1993 until 2005 and was during his tenure the only American Indian serving in the U.S. Congress. Campbell was a three term U.S. Representative from 1987 to 1993, when he was sworn into office as a...
declared in 2004 that he was retiring, Coors announced his candidacy. His opponent in the primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
was another conservative, former congressman Bob Schaffer
Bob Schaffer
Robert Warren "Bob" Schaffer was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from the State of Colorado in the 105th Congress and the two succeeding Congresses . In 2004, Schaffer lost in the primary election to be the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat...
. In their primary, the two candidates got into an ideological battle, as Schaffer attacked Coors because his company had provided benefits to the partners of its gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
and lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
employees, in addition to promoting its beer in gay bar
Gay bar
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
s. Coors defended himself by saying that he was opposed to same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage in the United States
The federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage in the United States, but such marriages are recognized by some individual states. The lack of federal recognition was codified in 1996 by the Defense of Marriage Act, before Massachusetts became the first state to grant marriage licenses...
, and supported a constitutional amendment
Constitutional amendment
A constitutional amendment is a formal change to the text of the written constitution of a nation or state.Most constitutions require that amendments cannot be enacted unless they have passed a special procedure that is more stringent than that required of ordinary legislation...
to ban it, although he noted that he supported civil unions for gay couples. According to the Rocky Mountain News, Coors described his company's pro-LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
practices as "good business, separate from politics." He defeated Schaffer with 61% of the vote in the primary, with many analysts citing his high name recognition in the state as a primary factor.
Coors faced Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and Colorado Attorney General
Colorado Attorney General
The Attorney General of the State of Colorado is the chief legal officer for the state of Colorado, and the head of the Colorado Department of Law...
Ken Salazar
Ken Salazar
Kenneth Lee "Ken" Salazar is the current United States Secretary of the Interior, in the administration of President Barack Obama. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States Senator from Colorado from 2005 to 2009. He and Mel Martinez were the first Hispanic U.S...
in the November 2004 election, but Coors was defeated by a margin of 51% to 47%.
According to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics
Center for Responsive Politics
The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics and the effect of money and lobbying activity on elections and public policy and maintains a public online database of its information.Their database...
(CPS), Coors gave his own campaign $1,213,657 and received individual donations of $60,550 from other Coors family members. He was mentioned as a possible contender in the 2008 Senate election.
Election results
Controversy
On May 28, 2006, Coors was arrested by the Colorado State PatrolColorado State Patrol
The Colorado State Patrol , based in Lakewood, Colorado, is a division of the Colorado Department of Public Safety, and is one of the official state police agencies of Colorado, along with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and several smaller state agencies...
on suspicion of driving under the influence
Driving under the influence
Driving under the influence is the act of driving a motor vehicle with blood levels of alcohol in excess of a legal limit...
and registering a blood alcohol level higher than the legal limit (0.088). Coors commented on the incident, saying, "I should have planned ahead for a ride. For years, I've advocated the responsible use of our company's products. That's still my message, and our company's message. I am sorry that I didn't follow it myself."
On August 25, 2006, Coors pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of driving while impaired. A judge sentenced Coors to 24 hours of community service
Community service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
, a suspended fine and ordered him to undergo alcohol education courses.