Nearly 81, Bruce Benson ends decade-plus tenure at CU’s helm by looking forward: “My life is working”

In his downtown Denver office Tuesday afternoon, Benson — a former politician, businessman, and oil and gas executive who will turn 81 on the Fourth of July — admitted there were a few projects he hasn’t been able to check off his to-do list in time for his retirement this week after leading Colorado’s largest academic institution since 2008.

But there were so many more things Benson started — and finished — to be proud of. Despite a contentious start at CU’s helm when some worried hiring a big-name Republican oilman to lead the four-campus university was ill-advised, Benson ended up winning over many of his naysayers as his work spoke for itself.