John Logan rappels from a downtown Denver building during a charity event. (Courtesy Kelly Logan)
On a group trip to Washington, D.C., Denver attorney John Logan and others from NAIOP’s Colorado chapter were walking between the U.S. House and Senate office buildings — a trek that involves passing a legal landmark — when Logan started yelling.
Kathie Barstnar, the chapter’s executive director, shouted in response. Logan yelled back.
Then, with the other members of the group clearly confused, Logan started giggling.
“And John, in perfect John style, said, ‘I’ve always wanted to argue before the Supreme Court, and I just did it,’” said Barstnar, the only one clued into the plan.
Logan, an extroverted attorney specializing in real estate who was intimately involved with the industry’s local trade associations, died on Aug. 13 at age 66. His two daughters said he died of natural causes after a sudden medical episode, although the exact cause of death has yet to be determined.
Logan was a partner with Cherry Creek law firm Laff Bennett Logan, where he represented clients in matters including lease negotiations, contract and employment disputes, commercial litigation and arbitration, and evictions, according to his profile on the firm’s website. He’d been with the firm since 2008 and prior to that spent nearly two decades at Minor & Brown, per his LinkedIn profile.
“John was just a joy to have in the office — unfailingly good-humored — and had vast real estate experience,” Laff Bennett Logan partner E.J. Bennett told BusinessDen.
John Logan, center, at a NAIOP Colorado event. (Courtesy NAIOP Colorado)
Logan was born in Australia and came to the United States around early high school when his father, a doctor, was recruited to work in Kansas, according to Kelly Logan, his 30-year-old daughter. Logan — who never lost his love for vegemite, the yeast-derived spread beloved Down Under — studied journalism at the University of Kansas and began law school there before finishing his degree at the University of Denver.
He “fell in love with Denver,” Kelly said, but remained an ardent fan of the Kansas Jayhawks, particularly during March Madness — although there was no guarantee his daughters would be able to watch with him.
“If the Jayhawks were losing, he would ask me to go upstairs, because maybe I was bad luck,” Kelly said.
Logan was a board member for years at Colorado’s chapter of NAIOP, which originally stood for National Association for Industrial and Office Parks. He served on the policy committee both there and at the Denver chapter of the Building Owners and Managers Association, or BOMA.
“He has been a staple in this industry, in this community, for a long time,” said Stephen Shepard, executive vice president at Denver Metro BOMA.
“He was good at teasing you but not making it feel mean. Whenever you were together, you felt you had his attention.”
Barstnar, the NAIOP executive director, said Logan was something of an “unofficial ambassador” for the organization. If somebody new came to an event, “The first person I would introduce them to would be John.”
“He was absolutely the life of the party, and as giving of his time and talent in that realm as he was in his professional life,” she said.
John Logan with his daughter Kelly. (Courtesy Kelly Logan)
Kelly Logan said her father “never turned down an opportunity to experience and explore a new thing.”
“Last year he took a curling class and was very bad at it,” Kelly said. “You can put that in there.”
Logan’s other daughter, 33-year-old Kjirsten Logan, said her father would “send me a photo from a different rooftop with a different group every night.” He was usually the one taking the picture. Everything Logan did he classified as “networking.”
“That’s how he’d justify it,” Kjirsten said. “How many clients are you getting at the Renaissance fair, dad?”
His daughters, whose parents were divorced, said Logan loved being a lawyer and had no plans to retire. He did share how he wanted his passing to be marked — not with a traditional ceremony.
“He always told us he wanted a Viking funeral,” Kelly said.
A celebration of life event will be held Thursday, Aug. 22 from 9 a.m. to noon at the boathouse in Denver’s Wash Park. It will have an open-house format, with attendees free to stop by anytime during that period. Logan’s family is asking attendees to not wear black, but rather wear blue or red in tribute to the University of Kansas, or green and gold in honor of his Australian heritage.
In lieu of flowers, they want people to instead try something new.
