DENVER — Roland A. Wilson, local ranch owner, and architect/developer in Denver, died Oct. 22, 2009.

Roland was born in Aug. 1, 1926, in Denver, to Swedish immigrant parents, Albert and Augusta Wilson.

After graduating from East High School in 1944, Roland, along with some of his classmates, enlisted in the Navy. He served aboard the USS Bingham in the South Pacific.

Upon returning home from the war, Roland attended Denver University on the GI bill, graduating from the DU School of Architecture. In 1957 Roland started his own company in his home in East Denver on Glencoe Street. His innovative apartment designs soon had investors and developers knocking on the door. This began a career in the design and development of many buildings, forever changing the skyline of Denver.

Roland married Virginia “Ginny” Martin on Jan. 18, 1958, and they made an exciting can-do team, Roland as the architect and Ginny as the interior decorator. Their first venture on their own as owner, architect, developer was Avenida Park Apartments at 1300 Adams Street in Denver.

The 18-unit pre-stress concrete building featured a party room, game room and an outdoor pool. The building was happily filled soon after completion in 1959 and Roland and Ginny moved in as resident managers for the first two years. They still own this building today.

He and Virginia, his wife of 51 years, have owned the Wilson Ranch, three miles west of Del Norte, since 1979. They began acquiring adjacent ranch land to assemble the 2,500 acre cattle ranch that now exists. The ranch operation is overseen by Cheb and Sonya Yund, who have been managers for the past two years.

The Wilsons donated the development rights of the ranch to a conservation easement with the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association in 2007. This assures that the ranch will always remain as it is today, preserved for future generations.

Roland specialized in the design and development of high-rise apartment buildings. Always an innovator and seeking better building methods, he pioneered many now common features of quality apartment buildings, such as using fire resistive prefabricated concrete components, large balconies for each apartment, indoor swimming pools, party rooms and exercise facilities. He was one of the first to plan landscaped underground parking for the buildings.

He was involved in many charitable endeavors, including some in Del Norte, and was honored as the 2006-2007 recipient of the Governor’s Award by Rotary International. He also contributed to the Food for Learning Program which helped the school children of Del Norte, and was especially interested in helping the Rio Grande Hospital. His family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to the hospital.

A memorial service to celebrate Roland’s life was held in November in Denver.