Guenther Vogt

1986

Guenther Emil Vogt
24 Jun 1947 - 23 Dec 2013

Clubs & Associations

Obituary

Bouquets co-owner Guenther Vogt, 66, dies of leukemia
by Joanne Davidson
Guenther Vogt, who owned the award-winning Denver floral shop Bouquets with his life partner, BJ Dyer, died Dec. 23, two weeks after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

He was 66.

And true to his kind heart and respect for others, when it became apparent that the end was near, he asked Dyer not to say anything about his passing until after Christmas so that their friends’ holiday spirits would not be dampened.

“Guenther embodied the Gandhi quote, ‘My life is my message,’ ” says Black Fox Philanthropy founder Natalie Rekstad-Lynn, who became friends with Vogt after engaging Bouquets for both charity and personal events. “He was humble and wise, crazy-town funny, and a seriously good sport. He also was a philanthropist in the true sense of the word, inspiring me and countless others to join him on his journey toward creating a finer, kinder and more beautiful place to live.”

“BJ and Guenther did so many wonderful events for me over the years, including Western Fantasy,” adds Sharon Magness Blake, who started the Volunteers of America fundraiser 20 years ago with Jean Galloway. “BJ was always very serious about getting everything perfect and Guenther would laugh and assure me that ‘of course it would be perfect!’ I will miss his sense of humor during the stress of making an event perfect.”

Vogt was born June 24, 1947, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to immigrant parents who met in a German ghetto in Brooklyn after his father placed a “man seeks woman” ad in a neighborhood German-language newspaper. Vogt and his siblings didn’t speak English until they started school; subsequently, they taught it to their parents.

After obtaining a degree in landscape architecture from Syracuse University, Vogt moved West — first to Berkeley for graduate studies in environmental planning at the University of California, and then to Colorado to learn Farsi while training for Peace Corps service in Iran.

The expertise he developed as a Peace Corps volunteer qualified him to later be hired by the Shah of Iran to be a member of a team that researched, outlined and developed a master environmental plan for Iran.

Vogt returned to Denver, where the team liaison had offices, to spend six months writing a book that documented the project. He met Dyer, then a freshman at the University of Denver, during that time and when Vogt’s work on the book was done, he opted to remain in Denver and start a landscape design/build firm, rather than break off their relationship.

The firm flourished. He closed it, though, when then-Mayor Federico Peña appointed him Deputy Director of Parks. “He did so to ensure there would be no conflict-of-interest challenges,” Dyer said. “Guenther modernized the department. He budgeted for the first computers, saving labor by automating menial jobs, and developed other efficiencies that are still in effect there today.”

When his city service ended, Vogt re-established his landscape firm and purchased a commercial carnation greenhouse where he could grow plants for use in landscaping. By default, he’d entered the cut flower business, as he had to keep growing and selling the flowers to wholesalers to generate income.

Over time, the carnations were switched out for more exotic and modern varieties, and Vogt opened a “bucket shop” called Bouquets in 1985 to sell his cut flowers directly to the public. Eventually, the flowers became more profitable than the landscape materials, so he abandoned his original plan and just grew blooms.

With his time consumed by running the greenhouse and the landscape businesses, he needed someone to run Bouquets. So Dyer left his job as a catering manager with Le Petit Gourmet to become president of Bouquets. The demand for Vogt’s long-lasting, quality flowers grew the business quickly, and customer demand caused the business to expand to include home and business deliveries of arranged flowers; giftware; home accessories; weddings and decor for events that included the Children’s Hospital Gala, the Opera Colorado Gala and the Colorado Symphony Ball.

Bouquets moved into Lower Downtown long before the area developed into a restaurant and retail center and Vogt immersed himself in such groups as the LoDo District. During his term as president, he developed LoDo Bites, event which is now the group’s signature fundraiser.

Vogt was a 25-year member of The Park People board and chaired several editions of Great Collections, a fundraiser for the Denver Art Museum Friends of Painting and Sculpture, on whose board he also served. He served on the retail council of the Society of American Florists and was inducted into the American Academy of Floriculture.

He had a passion for travel, and in 2012 alone, Vogt and Dyer spent eight weeks on cruise ships, visiting the South China Sea, the Mediterranean, Alaska, the Caribbean, South America around the Horn, and a Transatlantic crossing. He loved New York, and with so much time spent there on buying trips for Bouquets’ four locations, he wanted a permanent place to stay, and invested in a small place down the block from Carnegie Hall.

In addition to Dyer, Vogt is survived by his sister, Ingrid Herbel of Mt. Pocono, PA; brothers Arnold Vogt of Greensboro, N.C., and Carl Vogt of Frederick, MD; and lifelong friend Cricket Smith.

A celebration of life will be at 2 p.m. Jan. 5 in the Denver Art Museum’s Lewis Sharp Auditorium. A reception at Walker Fine Art follows. Memorial contributions to the Colorado Symphony or Friends of Painting and Sculpture, 454 Jackson St., Denver 80206, are suggested. ^[1]

Guenther Vogt 1947 - 2013
66, died just two weeks after learning he had leukemia. Guenther co-founded the award-winning floral decor company, Bouquets. An accomplished Landscape Architect, his projects ranged from land planning for the Shah of Iran, to solving the challenges of small urban spaces in New York & Denver. He served as Denver Deputy Director of Parks under Mayor Federico Pena. Volunteer boards included The Park People, DAM's Friends of Painting & Sculpture, The LoDo District, American Society of Landscape Architects, and Society of American Florists. Guenther is survived by his life partner of 37 years, BJ Dyer; lifelong friend Cricket Smith, sister Ingrid Herbel (PA); and brothers Arnold Vogt (NC) and Carl Vogt (MD). Services 2PM on Sun, Jan 5, in the Lewis Sharp Auditorium at the Denver Art Museum. Contributions to www.ColoradoSymphony.org or DAM c/o FOPAS 454 Jackson St. Denver CO 80206 www.fopas.net ^[2]