PRESS CLIPPINGS THE DENVER POST - MAY 17, 2009 COLORADO MATTERS - ROCKMOUNT RANCH WEAR OWNER REMEMBERS "PAPA JACK" - 4/26/09 THE DENVER POST: ASK PAPA JACK BOOK SIGNING DENVER DAILY NEWS: PAPA JACK'S TALE PRESERVED SOUTHWEST AIRLINES SPIRIT MAGAZINE:   ROCKMOUNT -- IN DENVER SEE HOW THE WEST IS WORN EVANSVILLE & COURIER PRESS ASK PAPA JACK AUSSIE COMES TO DENVER JUST TO SHOP ROCKMOUNT WESTWORD: GRANDFATHER KNOWS BEST ANDREW HUDSON'S JOBS LIST - MARCH 2009 WEIL'S WORDS OF WISDOM NOT WEARING THIN - MARCH 2009 PAPA JACK WILL HELP YOU GET YOUR MIND OFF OF THE STOCK MARKET... MARCH 2009 DENVER BUSINESS JOURNAL - DECEMBER 2008 UNITED AIRLINES HEMISPHERE MAGAZINE, DECEMBER, 2008   BBC FEATURES ROCKMOUNT OCT. 16, 2008 "WILD WEST LIVES ON IN COLORADO" the economist 8/28/08: jack a. weil, patriarch of western clothing, died on august 13th, aged 107 Chicago tribune: No enterprise epitomizes denver's pioneer spirit more than rockmount npr 8/20: rockmount and the dnc national public radio - all things considered - melissa block - august 15, 2008 los angeles times: jack a. weil, 107 designed, poularized cowboy shirts washington post: jack a. weil, 107; entrepreneur put style in western wear rocky mountain news: hundreds honor man whose business was symbol of west Denver Post: curious theather gave "papa jack" stirring tribute in may rocky mountain news: a hat tip to 'papa jack' weil Rocky mountain news "Weil's way", aug. 15, 2008 new york times: jack a. weil, the cowboy dresser This Associated Press syndicated article appeared in media across the world including  LA Times, Kansas City Star, Newsday, Orlando Sentinel, Star Tribune, Taiwan News... grandchildren tip hats to "papa jack" papa jack 1901 - 2008: rocky mountain news new york times: visit rockmount when in denver Westword 8/21 jack a. weil proved that the west is not a place, but a state of mind. This syndicated article by AP associated PRESS began appearing in publications world-wide August 10, 2008 Syndicated AP article on Rockmount shirts for the Democratic National Convention. This article appeared in thousands of newspapers world-wide beginning Aug. 10, 2008 from a business point of view, it makes cents for a republican to do a dnc shirt - july 11, 2008 rocky mountain news EVANSVILLE COURIER PRESS:  107-year-old Denver Businessman still has memories of Evansville july 13, 2008 NEW YORK TIMES FASHION STORY JULY 10, 2008 los angeles times recommends visit to rockmount june 4, 2008 denver post: clothier salute steals show Rocky mountain news 5-23-08 - 'Papa jack's tale steals teh show at third annual 'denver stories' Time Magazine features Rockmount shirt No. 6799-Beer April 21, 2008 Papa Jack featured in German newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung,  April 14, 2008 Weil, 107, to get Curious vetting Jack Weil, Featured in Stories Oldest CEO draws fans to Denver Mayor pays tribute to Jack B. Weil Jack Weil Industry Tribute, Tack 'N Togs trade magazine, March 2008 WESTERN COLORS: CITIZEN OF THE WEST DINNER Jack B. Western wear innovator Jack B. dies Jack Weil the Younger dies at 79 Painting sustained Rockmount executive Weil, 79 Western Dress Suits Everyone Retail sign returns to owner 50 years later MSN.COM, AOL.COM, & Inc.COM This appeared world-wide on the opening pages of MSN.COM December 26, 2007, AOL.COM & INC.COM November 15, 2007 CNBC  -  December 5, 2007 "Sam Walton Was A Hillbilly" Jack B.'s Turn to Bow What to find an 106 year old to wear. CHICAGO DAILY HERALD FEATURES ROCKMOUNT DEALER RICH ALCALA Boss of Shirts Rockmount in the Australian press Rocky Mountain News:   Eddie Murphy's film "Nowhereland" shops ROCKMOUNT Bruce Springsteen CBS 60 Minutes Interview by Scott Pelley The Weils & Rockmount featured in German paper:  Munchner Merkur Sept. 8, 2007 Rocky MTN NEWS FRONT COVER FOX NATIONAL NEWS ON PAPA JACK SEPT 1, 2007 New acquaintances make St. Louisan's long road trip special They even know about Rockmount in Australia Cowgirl chic goes south of the border Papa Jack on Tonight Show Wed Aug 1! BOB DYLAN SHOPS ROCKMOUNT There's No Westerner Like and Easterner ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS:  TONIGHT SHOW VISITS ROCKMOUNT Rocky Mountain News July 10, 2007  Tonight Show to interview Papa Jack Fodor's Travel Guide to Colorado features Rockmount THE DENVER POST  Denver Goes with what it knows:  Papa Jack advertising campaign AAA VIA Magazine on Denver:  Visit Rockmount 5280 Magazine profiles Papa Jack French Magazine Le Point picks Rockmount CBS 4 Denver - Ranch Wear Business Features 3 Generations Southwest Airlines MAgazine PAPA JACK Billboard ASK FOR PAPA JACK BILLBOARD National Public Radio, Morning Edition:  JACK WEIL OLDEST CEO The Giants visit Rockmount - April 17th, 2007 DENVER POST ON PAPA JACK- March 27, 2007 PAPA JACK MOSEYS TO ANOTHER BIRTHDAY- March 29, 2007 OLD MAN AND THE STREET - March 27, 2007 ROCKMOUNT NAMED BEST SHIRTMAKER 2007 ROCKMOUNT HEIR GOT HEADS-UP ABOUT DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, JANUARY 17, 2007 CHIC'S IN THE DETAILS - THE DENVER POST, JANUARY 14, 2007 NY TIMES:  ROCKMOUNT HAD EARLY CONFIRMATION DNC COMING TO DENVER, THE NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 12, 2007 WHAT DENVER HAS THAT NEW YORK DOESN'T - THE DENVER POST, JANUARY 11, 2007 southeast line makes for pleasant entry into city colo springs gazette, december 3, 2006 THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (lONDON) SUNDAY OCTOBER 29, 2006 JAPAN'S PREMIER FASHION MAGAZINE "LIGHTNING" FEATURED ROCKMOUNT DURING THE SUMMER OF 2006 DENVER'S THREE-WAY CACHET GLOBE & MAIL, CANADA, NOVEMBER 18, 2006 VINCE GILL AT ROCKMOUNT NOVEMBER 22, 2006 DaltrEy Double? the rocky mountain news, november 15, 2006 WEIL FAMILY GOES "AROUND THE TOWN" ON ALTITUDE THE DENVER POST, OCTOBER 8, 2006 Fitness magazine oct. 2006 rockmount rocks: Huey Lewis went to Rockmount Ranch Wear The Rocky Mountain News, Sept. 19, 2006 LARRY WIGNET, FROM A & e SERIES "BIG SPENDER" AUTHOR OF "ITS CALLED WORK FOR A REASON" ANSCHUTZ COWBOY GIFT CAUSES STIR ON BOTH SIDES OF ATLANTIC THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, JULY 11, 2006 COWBOYS & INDIANS, ROCKMOUNT RANCH WEAR: THE STORY OF PAPA JACK & HIS WESTERN SNAP SHIRT June 2006 President george w. bush letter to jack a. weil 105-year-old ceo honored with street name 9news, mar. 28, 2006 DENVER STREET RENAMED FOR COUNTRY'S OLDEST CEO CBS 4 DENVER MAR. 28, 2006 At 105, oldest CEO sells Western wear to stars Reuters news agency world-wide, apr 9, 2006 clothes made the man the denver post, mar. 29, 2006 Clothier, 105, still going strong the rocky mountain news, mar. 29, 2006 FAMOUS BEFORE THE MOVIE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES MAR. 28, 2006 WAZEE BECOMES THE STREET SO NICE... the rocky mountain news, MAR. 10, 2006 FASHION GOES WEST THE NEW YORK TIMES, MAR. 9, 2006 HOW TO CARRY OFF THE LONG, LEAN LOOK THE NEW YORK TIMES, MAR. 9, 2006 WEIL HE WAS AWAY, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS FEB.23, 2006 THE SHIRTS OFF "BROKEBACK" ROPe $101,000 THE DENVER POST, FEB. 23, 2006 MOVIE MAKES ROCKMONT'S SHIRTS TRES HOT THE DENVER POST, FEB. 19, 2006 Love it or not, cowboy couture is riding herd on fashion's mainstream The denver post, jan. 15, 2006 instant expert: stock tips the denver post, jan 8, 2006 out here: rodeo style The denver post Clotheshorses the denver post, jan 6, 2006 URBAN COWBOY REVISITED THE GAZETTE, jAN 6, 2006 5280 Magazine shirt 6719 nov. 18, 2005 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS - Raitt's crew flashed cheeky birthday wishes at Fillmore love-in nov. 10, 2005 BONNIE RAITT Nov. 9, 2005 Rocky Mountain NEWs picks rockmount no.1 western store Nov. 4, 2005 NOT SO MELLOW YELLOW OCT. 26, 2005 Sept 2005 Gentleman's Quarterly New York Times Review of Books "WESTERN SHIRTS" Sept. 4, 2005 Shirt style strikes chord with Clapton, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL Las Vegas Book Signing at Mandalay Bay Aug 30, 2005 A Conversation with a 104 year-old Icon of the American West, Rockmount business and building undergo rebirth, Rocky Mountain NEWS, July 30, 2005 ROCKMOUNT TRUNK SHOW & BOOK SIGNING AT COUNTRY GENERAL, VAN NUYS, CA JUNE 18, 2005 Radio Interview with Steve Weil about Eric Clapton, The Mountain, Denver (Windows MEdia Player) Uncommon executives in session, Denver patriarchs, 104 and 93, share histories over lunch, Rocky Mountain NEws, June 2, 2005 American icon that refuses to hang up its boots, The Times MAy 21 2005 Old timer with a hatful of ideas, The times, May 21, 2005 Western Shirt, Just the ticket for Clapton, THE DENVER POST, May 12, 2005 Rockmount Ranch Wear scratches Clapton itch for Western duds, Rocky Mountain NEws, May 5, 2005 belated birthday, The rocky mountain news, april 12, 2005 104 and counting, The denver post, april 2005 Author Sandra Cisneros reads from her acclaimed book “Caramelo” The denver post, april 8, 2005 From practical to collectible - Denverite helps write Western look book, THE DENVER POST, MARCH 20, 2005 Colorado Matters on Western Shirts: A Classic American Tradition, Colorado Public Radio, December 20, 2004 Shelter from the swarm, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, December 13, 2004 Collaring A Western Classic, THE DENVER POST, December 13, 2004 America's Oldest CEO , 9 NEWS - KUSA, DENVER, December 9, 2004 WEIL'S WAY, Rocky Mountain News, Dec. 3, 2004 THE WEST IS BEST, WESTWORD, November 29, 2004 HOT TYPE: Lassoing Fashion History , Rocky Mountain News , Nov. 19, 2004 Western Author's Panel, AUSTIN CHRONICLE, Nov. 12, 2004 After a Fashion, AUSTIN CHRONICLE, October 22, 2004 FOREVER YOUNG, Rocky Mountain News, October 14, 2004 COLORADO ORIGINALS: Snap-style Western shirt, The Denver Post, Sunday, August 22, 2004 Denver TV Station Channel WB2 KWGN, July 2004 James Garner Cowboys & Indians, July 2004 Western-wear CEO still a snappy dresser at 103 THE DENVER POST, Monday, June 21, 2004 They even wear Rockmount at the South Pole! Personal Email to Rockmount, June 2004 Shirt Book All Buttoned Up Tack 'n Togs, June 2004 Papa Jack 103rd Birthday & Cowboy Poetry Gathering Tack 'n Togs, June 2004 City spirit The Denver Post, Thursday, May 27, 2004 Venerable Western Clothier Bucks Trends Associated Press Syndicated Article, April 25, 2004 PAPA'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG Rocky Mtn News, April 24, 2004 COWBOY UP Rocky Mtn News, April 15, 2004 2004 What Lies Ahead Style 100 Local charities reap benefit of officials' friendly food fight Westword - Off Limits 12/03 The Aaron Harber TV Show 102-year-old Denver Man Remembers His First Airplane Flight Denver man bags a mantle home-run ball, the denverpost 12/03 Colorado's Economic Realities, The Denverpost, 11/03 BOYS IN THE BANd, The Rocky Mountain News, 11/03 Amendment 32 Garners Business Backing, The Denver Post, 10/03 Letter to the Editor, The Denver Post, 10/03 Western Fantasy Gala, The Denver Post, 10/03 Hollywood Hick, Rocky Mountain News, 10/03 City spirit 10/03 Colorado Public Radio "Rockmount Shirts" September 23, 2003 Western design saddles up 9/03 Clothes Make the Mayor, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 6/03 dick kreck's column,DENVER POST 4/03 Western wear tips its hat to the world, Denver Post 1/03 Rockmount Retails, Rocky Mountain News 8/02 BEST WESTERN, DENVER POST 7/02 Cowboy fashion, Rocky Mountain News 3/02 Marie Claire March 2002 BOB DYLAN wearing Rockmount in Denver Post, 10-19-2001 CNN NEWS STORY (text), 5/10/2001 "Rockmount Ranch Wear Ropes In Clients by Bucking Retail Trendiness", LOS ANGELES TIMES (AP syndicated story in newspapers throughout US), 4/1/01 "At 100 WEIL'S STILL WORKING" - EDITORIAL, Rocky Mountain NEws, 3/29/01 "How a snap decision led to a long love affair with the West", WESTWORD MAGAZINE. 3/15/01 “A WESTERN FAMILY DYNASTY: Founder, Jack A. Weil & Rockmount Ranch Wear,” WESTERN & ENGLISH TODAY, 3/01 “ROMANCING THE WEST: Patriarch Clothes Celebs, Cowboys, “ ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 1/01 “HOW THE WEST IS WORN: Combining Classic, New Wears Well At Rockmount,” THE DENVER POST, 1/01 “Jack A. Weil Blvd,” THE DENVER POST, 1/01 “Endangered Species? Snap Button Shirts,” EQUESTRIAN RETAILER, 10/99 “Who Put The Snap In Western Shirts,” EQUESTRIAN RETAILER, 10/99 “The Cowboy Way,” GENTLEMAN’S QUARTERLY, 2/97 “The Dude is Back in Town,” THE NEW YORK TIMES, 4/93 "Is it Rockmount or Hollymount?" 1/94 “Saluting Family Business,” COLORADO BUSINESS MAGAZINE, 10/93 "Rockmount earns trademark rights for shirt cuff tab" 1/86 "Jack Weil honored by WERA" 2/86

The Denver Post May 17, 2009 Books, Regional Nonfiction By Sandra Dallas Ask Papa Jack: Wisdom of the World's Oldest CEO, by Steven E. Weil, $15.95. Many years ago, someone wrote a novel titled "Men to Match My Mountains." Throughout its history, the West had been blessed with men of vision and action. Just ask Steven E. Weil, whose grandfather was known affectionately as Papa Jack to nearly everybody in Denver. Papa Jack Weil, America's oldest CEO, died last August at age 107, still in the saddle of Rockmount Ranch Wear Manufacturing Co., the business he founded in 1946. Also known as Jack A. (his son, who predeceased him by a few months, was Jack B.), Papa Jack invented the Western shirt, with its distinctive yoke, shotgun cuffs, sawtooth or smile pockets and snap buttons. The shirt is iconic, worn by Robert Redford, Eric Clapton, the actors in the movie "Brokeback Mountain" and almost anybody who admires the cowboy life. But it was not just the design that made Rockmount an institution, according to Steve, who now runs the company in Lower Downtown Denver. "Ask Papa Jack" is the story of how Jack A's philosophy of quality, hard work, financial prudence and loyalty permeated the company. Family memoirs tend to be, well, a little boring. But not this one. Compiled by Steve, the book contains stories about the Weil patriarch by everyone from Denver's mayor to Steve's young son. There are pictures of family and company, nuggets of Papa Jack's wisdom, vignettes of his life. This is not just a paean to the family patriarch, but a sometimes humorous look at a crusty old man who was an awful driver and a smart aleck, but who was a stickler for old-fashioned values that ruled his life and his company. And yes, there are nuggets that will help you run a company.     Rockmount Ranch Wear Owner Remembers "Papa Jack" - CPR Colorado Matters, 4/26/09 Click here to listen to the interview. Click here to view CPR.org Ryan Warner talks with Steve Weil about his new book, "Ask Papa Jack: Wisdom of the World’s Oldest CEO." Jack A. Weil, who died last year at 107, founded Denver’s Rockmount Ranch Wear in 1946. (Originally aired Apr. 24, 2009)   THE DENVER POST business Parker:  "Ask Papa Jack" Booksigning By Penny Parker Denver Post Columnist Book signing. The LoDo Tattered Cover is hosting a book signing of the recently released "Ask Papa Jack: Wisdom of the World's Oldest CEO," by grandson Steve Weil, at 7:30 tonight. The event will be filmed for a documentary. Eavesdropping on a woman drooling over the parade of foxy firefighters at the Fired Up for Kids 2010 calendar contest at the Exdo Event Center on Friday: "Cocktails and six-packs, that's all you need." Penny Parker's column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.   Papa Jack’s Tales Preserved Book written on Rockmount founder Gene Davis, DDN Staff Writer Thursday, April 2, 2009 ‘ASK PAPA JACK’ — Papa Jack and his grandson Steve Weil of Rockmount Ranch Wear. Weil  has written a new book, “Ask Papa Jack: Wisdom of the World’s Oldest CEO,” to share the stories of his grandfather. Weil will be appearing at Tattered Cover tonight. The personable Denver businessman who believed the West was not a place but a state of mind has been memorialized in a new book that was written by his grandson. “Papa” Jack Weil, founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear, was the oldest CEO in the world when he died last year at the age of 107. As anyone who got to meet Papa Jack can attest to, the personable entrepreneur knew how to tell a story.  Steve Weil, Papa Jack’s grandson who has taken over running Rockmount since his grandfather’s death, has collected some of his favorite Papa Jack stories and put them in the new book “Ask Papa Jack: Wisdom of the World’s Oldest CEO.” “My grandfather was an extraordinary man whose life spanned more than a century, from horse and buggies to the Internet,” Weil said. “He had the most wonderful stories that entertained us for years.” Weil said he wanted to put those stories on paper, as well as consolidate some of the praise that was doted on Papa Jack by the media. The motivation led to Weil writing his second book, the first being “Western Shirts: A Classic American Fashion.” Weil said while his grandfather was famous for his shirts, he was loved for his warmth, humanity and easy smile. Countless people got to know Papa Jack because he didn’t separate himself from his customers, instead choosing to personally greet the people who came to his landmark store almost every day. “The thing that was amazing about Papa Jack is that he was many things to many people,” Weil said. “I’m still finding out things about him that I never knew, despite working with him since I was of working age.”  While Papa Jack is certainly more accomplished than most grandfathers, the enthusiastic way the stories are presented should resonate with anyone who ever wanted to preserve their favorite family tales. That’s exactly what Weil has done; share the stories from his legendary, but still very human, grandfather that can still bring a smile to everyone.  “Storytelling is a much more powerful medium then what we get from sitting in front of screens,” said Weil. “Sadly, we don’t hear good storytellers very much these days … But what you impart in just a few minutes in good storytelling is more worthwhile than hours of mindless screens.” Weil is appearing at Tattered Cover tonight to sign copies of his new book. Weil will also be showing some slides, as well as encouraging anyone with a good Papa Jack story to speak up.     SOUTHWEST AIRLINES SPIRIT MAGAZINE:   ROCKMOUNT -- IN DENVER SEE HOW THE WEST IS WORN Click the image to view a larger version.   Local News Book honors 'Papa' Jack, late pioneer of Western fashion By Dan Shaw Sunday, March 29, 2009 Americans have long enjoyed reading collections of the wit and wisdom of Mark Twain, Abraham Lincoln and other national figures. Readers with those tastes also might enjoy a book about an Evansville native. "Ask Papa Jack: Wisdom of the World's Oldest CEO" takes as its subject Jack A. Weil, the inventor of the modern Western shirt. The book jacket of the collected wit and wisdom of Jack Weil. Wisdom of 'Papa' Jack Quotes from "Papa" Jack A. Weil, founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear: "The West is not a place. It's a state of mind." "Pick a job you love. There is no more drudgery than a job you disdain." "I've always believed we were never selling just the cowboy — we sell the romance of the West. That's so much more." During the economic troubles of the 1970s, he wrote, "A few of us remember the 1930s, I was there. The world is not coming to its end, we have simply a long-due settling up of follies and perhaps greed." "The government predicts possible 7 percent unemployment. If it goes to 10 percent, there will still be 90 percent working, consuming, buying." On the net "Ask Papa Jack: Wisdom of the World's Oldest CEO" is sold at the Web site of Rockmount Ranch Wear at www.rockmount.com. It also can be found at many bookstores. "Papa" Jack, as he was known to many, was born in 1901. Only with his death in August, at 107, did he relinquish the title of chief executive officer of Rockmount Ranch Wear, the Denver company he founded in 1946. Any life lived so long builds a storehouse of experience. "Papa" Jack drew much from that source and imparted it to family and friends over the years. The task of assembling it fell to Steve Weil, his grandson, who began working on "Ask Papa Jack" in 2007. "The stories have been told in our family all our lives," Steve Weil said. "They have burned themselves into our psyche." Many of the anecdotes and witticisms in the book concern business. Others delve into romance, integrity and the art of driving. The book's penultimate chapter discusses longevity — something "Papa" Jack knew more about than most. Never one for exercise, he attributed his long life to other good habits. He avoided smoking until he was 40 and quit when he was 60. He joked, "It's not that you live longer after giving up cigarettes. It just seems longer." A reporter once asked "Papa" Jack how he bested competitors. "Because they're all in the cemetery," was the reply. But Steve Weil says it would be an oversimplification to reduce his grandfather's success to the mere ability to stick around. Solid principles Far more important, he said, was a strict adherence to old-fashioned business principles; rather than borrow money to invest in Rockmount, "Papa" Jack would re-invest the company's profits. Steve Weil also credits "Papa" Jack's refusal to import shirts from overseas. Rockmount still makes most its products within the United States. "While we have styles from Paris and others from Italy, Western came from this country and it went everywhere," "Papa" Jack once said. Another priority was the avoidance of inferior materials. "He had a lifelong distaste for chain stores and everything they do to drive down the quality of life," Steve Weil said. "Papa" Jack was fond of saying "There is no Westerner like an Easterner." His father emigrated from France at the start of the Franco-Prussian War, coming to Southwestern Indiana to work as a cattle trader. It was in Evansville that "Papa" Jack entered the clothing business. His first serious job was at the D.S. Bernstein Overall Factory, which made dungarees in a building on Fulton Avenue. A subsequent attempt at starting his first business failed. "Papa" Jack went to work for a Chicago firm, his main supplier, to pay off debts and improve his fortunes, becoming a salesman with territories in the East and South. It was that work which, in 1928, led him to Denver. Less than two decades later, he was on his own again, this time with a plan to improve the quality and style of the Western shirt.Innovative fashion He accomplished the goal through several innovations. "Papa" Jack's Western shirts were the first to have snap buttons, sawtooth pockets, a tapered fit and yokes — which broaden the shoulders. He also is responsible for the widespread sale of bolo ties. A proof of his success is that few could imagine Western apparel with any other look. His shirts hang in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Any subsequent design changes have been tempered by a recognition of what makes Rockmount's products unique. "We build the brand rather than changing it every season," Steve Weil said. "Our design is considered classic American fashion." "Papa" Jack's careful provisions not only ensured a livelihood for himself, but for his grandson and his son, Jack B. Weil, who also died last year. Steve Weil said it's rare for a business to stay within a family through three generations. Steve Weil said he has long been saving material for "Ask Papa Jack." The bulk comes from the stories his grandfather told over and over again. He began writing them down whenever they occurred to him, morning, day or night. Then there were the press clipping from interviews. "Papa" Jack's words have been in The New York Times, the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News and the Courier & Press, along with broadcasts by CNN and National Public Radio. "Every time he told a story, it was verbatim," Steve Weil said. "I truly believe he had a photographic memory. He could remember the layout of Evansville from when he was a child."     THE DENVER POST March 26, 2009, Business Parker: Aussies, Danes make themselves at home By Penny Parker Denver Post Columnist Some would say Visit Denver's Jayne Buck is the hostess with the mostest. During a tour of LoDo on Wednesday with newspaper writers from Sydney and Melbourne, one Aussie mentioned he was looking for cowboy boots. Buck led the shopper into Rockmount Ranch Wear on Wazee Street. "When we arrived, the staff told us that another Australian was already shopping there," Buck said. "The Aussies met each other, and being the Visit Denver vice president of tourism, I asked the other gentleman if he was here for a meeting or for a vacation." The shopper told Buck, "I took a short flight to Denver from Vegas, where I am at a meeting. I have been buying Rockmount for a decade and I have bought some things online, but I decided that it's better to come shop in person in Denver, so here I am." The happy hunter left with a half-dozen signature snap-front shirts. Eavesdropping on a grandfather and his granddaughter: "Do you know how many living great-grandmothers you have?" "Two." "Can you name them?" "They already have names!"   WESTWORD April 2, 2009 by Patricia Calhoun, Editor Grandfather Knows Best Jack A. Weil was the oldest still-working CEO in the country when he passed away last summer at the age of 107 - and the founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear hasn't quit working yet. Cleaning up the store at 1626 Wazee Street last month, his granddaughter-in-law came across a manifesto that Jack A. had written more than thirty years ago, during another recession, and made into a poster. "A few of us can remember the 1930s," he began. "I was there.  The world is not coming to its end, we have simply a long-due settling-up of follies and perhaps greed. Evaluate today's conditions sanely..  We have the know-how and the drive to cure our man-made ills, with old-fashioned common sense, work, judgement." Those words of wisdom arrived too late for grandson Steve Weil to include in his book, Ask Papa Jack: Wisdom of the World's Oldest CEO. But his grandfather had already given Steve more than enough to work with, as he'll prove at a free slide show and book-signing at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the LoDo Tattered Cover, 1628 16th Street. For more information, go to www.tatteredcover.com or call 303-436-1070.   March 23, 2009 What's right with American business?  Papa Jack's rules offer a reminder. Holy Moses. How do you explain today's toxic Wall Street environment to a child?  The unethical and criminal behavior tied to million dollar bonuses, billion dollar ponzi schemes, unscrupulous fund managers, trillion dollar tax-payer funded bailouts....it just seems to go on and on.  While you'd like to think that these actions are tied to just a few bad apples, as it turns out, the greed and corruption is inherently systematic and its effects are being felt in every corner of America. Last week, I found myself trying to explain to my 9-year-old stepson why everyone was mad about the taxpayer-funded million dollar AIG bonuses. "Let's say you had an allowance, or a 'salary' of $10 per-week," I explained.  "Every week, you were supposed to do your chores, and do them well: take out the trash, feed your cat and the fish, set the table for dinner, clean your room, help wash the car, and so forth.  If you did those chores, and did them well, we'd pay you for doing those chores.  If you were responsible and did your chores really well, with no sass, whining or complaining, and your chores were actually done so well they added value to the household - for example you helped saved your mother and I time so we could work harder and bring home more money into the family budget - you would get a big bonus at the end of the year!" His eyes got big at the thought of it. "Now let’s say you didn't do your chores.  The fish died, the trash kept piling up, the cat ran away because he was hungry, we always had to clean your room and kept finding smelly socks everywhere...all because you refused to do the work you had promised to do.  As a matter of fact, because you didn't do your chores, your Mom and I had to work harder and harder and had to neglect other things, to the point that at the end of the year, we had to borrow money to pay someone to collect the trash, we had to buy a new cat and we actually lost a lot of money.  And yet, you still expected to be paid and to get a bonus at the end of the year!" His eyes squinted.  "You mean I wouldn't have to work hard, or do the things I promised but I still get paid and I still get a bonus?  That's a pretty sweet deal!" My heart sunk. "Tell the truth and you'll never have to remember what you said." - 'Papa' Jack Weil My good friend Steve Weil, president of Rockmount Ranch Wear, recently published a book about his grandfather entitled, Ask Papa Jack, Wisdom of the World's Oldest CEO. You may have heard of Papa Jack.  He was the founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear and up until his death last year at the age of 107, he was considered the world's oldest CEO.  For those of you lucky to have met Papa Jack (he was still greeting customers at his LoDo store up until a couple weeks before his death) you know his life as a successful businessman was intricately tied to the simple rules of ethics, integrity, fair play, honesty and goodness. Ask Papa Jack is a good reminder that we needn't be consumed with the cynicism and anger of the Wall Street scandals.  The majority of businesses in this country are small businesses; companies started and run by well-meaning entrepreneurs who continue to operate at the same level of ethics and integrity as outlined in Ask Papa Jack. One of my favorite 'Papaisms' is from a story in the book when Steve was 23 years old and about to apply for his first credit card. "I asked my grandfather, 'What do I say on the credit card application about my length of employment?  I have worked here since high school?...'  His reply burned itself into my fiber.  'Tell the truth and you'll never have to remember what you said.'..." Ask Papa Jack contains stories and sayings that not only help define Papa Jack's philosophies and principals, but helps define a time-tested era from not too long ago that built capitalism based on a foundation of ethics, honesty, personal integrity and fair play.  Perhaps some might say it is a naive approach to business in a day where everything seems to be commoditized; where American creativity and ingenuity appears to be continuously devalued through outsourcing, global corporate mergers and acquisitions, big box discount retailing and a homogenous approach to marketing and branding.  I keep telling everyone who will listen that our country is resilient.   Perhaps what is going on right now is a much-needed wakeup call that we all need to heed; a frantic reverse 911 to the American conscious that is reminding us that we need to live within our means and that in fact, prosperity and happiness are not defined by the, the latest technology, the biggest house, the largest car, the most expensive clothes, an iPhone, a $5.00 Starbucks or the 80-hour work week.  Could it possibly be that peace of mind is not defined by cost or expense at all?  That in fact the greatest contentment in our short time on earth is actually attributed to the simple virtues defined by friends, family, health and the satisfaction you feel from an honest day's work?  And lets not forget that we despite the endless stream of bad news about Wall Street, we still live in a country where the very real possibility continues to exist that anyone can succeed through integrity, ethics and good old fashion hard work, honesty and trustworthiness.  Read Ask Papa Jack and you'll realize how much real wisdom is packed into the mind of a 107-year-old. To order Ask Papa Jack, Wisdom of the World's Oldest CEO, go to www.rockmount.com or visit Rockmount at 16th and Wazee in LoDo.  Steve Weil will be talking about his grandfather, reading from the book and signing copies on April 2, 2009 at the Tattered Cover in LoDo beginning at 7:30 p.m.   THE DENVER POST Business News March 20, 2009 Weil's words of wisdom not wearing thin By Penny Parker Denver Post Columnist Jack A. "Papa Jack" Weil didn't live to see this recession. The Rockmount Ranch Wear founder and world's oldest CEO died in August at age 107. His grandson and Rockmount honcho Steve Weil has written a love letter to his grandfather in the book "Ask Papa Jack: Wisdom of the World's Oldest CEO," which hits bookshelves today ($15.95, Johnson Books). The book chronicles the times and trials of a self-confessed workaholic who pioneered the snap-front Western shirt. Scattered throughout the pages are what Steve calls "Papa-isms" — wise words to live by. The following, which he wrote in 1975, could apply to the country's financial crises today: "A few of us remember the 1930s, I was there. The world is not coming to its end, we have simply a long-due settling-up of follies and perhaps greed. Evaluate today's conditions sanely: our press reports lay-offs, shutdowns, unemployment, tight money, stock market drops — what have you." Steve's father, Jack B. Weil, proceeded Jack A. in death. Steve is left to carry on the legacy of the two men who had such a profound influence on his life. Another Papa-ism: "I was always thinking of something new. But that's me. I'm a dreamer. And I never stopped enjoying myself, not for a minute." Venga aquí. In addition to handing out awards to deserving community members during the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Business Awards Luncheon on Thursday at the Marriott City Center, chamber CEO Jeff Campos seized the opportunity to promote the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce national convention coming to Denver on Sept. 16-19. The U.S. Hispanic Chamber gathering will bring 3,500 Latino business owners, entrepreneurs, workshops, business planning and networking opportunities, Campos told the sold-out lunch bunch. TAG, you're it. Top toque Troy Guard (nine75, Ocean, Zengo) will open his restaurant TAG (his initials and the name of his bulldog) on Larimer Square for dinner only on May 18. Guard said he'll add lunch to the menu June-ish, with breakfast starting late summer or early fall. The eatery is a joint venture between the chef and the Larimer Group. Eavesdropping. A woman referring to a man with a laptop who was blogging at the Fainting Goat: "I'm sorry, but seriously, who's 40 years old and blogs?" Penny Parker's column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-630 AM. Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.

March 9, 2009

Friday, December 26, 2008 Steve Weil puts his own stamp on Rockmount Denver Business Journal - by Bruce Goldberg   Kathleen Lavine Steven Weil, president of Rockmount Ranch Wear, with his dog, Wazee. Steve Weil recalls the day that Rockmount Ranch Wear finally decided to open a retail store, after holding out as wholesale only since its founding in 1946. “We were having lunch at McCormick’s — my father, grandfather and me — sitting at the window,” Weil said. “And we saw people walking away from the Rockmount window because we had signs that said, ‘wholesale.’ I told my father and grandfather we must be stupid; we are sending people several miles away to buy our product, and they may not go that far to get it. They want it here and they want it now. ... We’ve got people walking in the door and we’re sending them away. I said we should add a small retail area, and we did.” Until then, Rockmount (short for Rocky Mountains) was content to manufacture its signature Western shirts and ship them to retail outlets worldwide — with one order even coming from Antarctica. Movie stars and rock musicians wear them; count Clark Gable (in “The Misfits”), Elvis Presley, Phil Lesh of The Grateful Dead and the late Heath Ledger (in “Brokeback Mountain”) among them. Today, Weil runs the entire operation, following a difficult 2008 in which both his father and grandfather — the famed “Papa Jack” — died. First, his father, Jack B. Weil, died Jan. 22 at age 79. Then company founder Jack A. Weil — renowned for coming to work every day well after his 100th birthday, and considered the oldest CEO in the nation — died Aug. 13 at age 107. He’s known worldwide for creating the Western snap-button shirts. “Emotionally, the changes are monumental, because my father and grandfather were my board of directors, my mentors, my advisers, and the people I went to on the hard questions,” Weil said. “My father died in January, and I still had my grandfather coming to work every day, and that was very comforting. But on August 14, when I drove down 18th Street, I realized that for the first time since 1954, there was going to be only one generation of Weils at the store.” Weil, 51, began preparing for this time long ago, starting to run the business about 10 years ago. He added retail and a website, and guided a store renovation in 2005. But perhaps his most difficult decision was to outsource some manufacturing outside the United States. He blames NAFTA for that, claiming it “put out of business 90 percent of the U.S. textile industry. ... We remained committed to our domestic production to the fullest extent possible. However, there are certain categories or products that are simply impossible to produce in the United States today.” A visitor to the Rockmount store at 1626 Wazee St. — which includes a small museum upstairs that displays saddles, quilts and other items — will get a strong Western feel, ranging from children’s “Cowboy” lunchboxes to a wide variety of Western shirts, cowboy hats, blankets and even Western-themed ties. And two “Jack A. Weil Boulevard” signs hang, remnants of the city’s annual acknowledgement of the founder’s birthday. “I will tell you that notoriety was something we found amusing, because it wasn’t what we came here to do, but it was a byproduct,” Weil said. “We were always amused by it, because it was unexpected. “We’re a family business done good. The vast majority of businesses never make it to their second generation, let alone a third; only about 7 percent reach their third generation.” bgoldberg@bizjournals.com | 303-803-9226

ThreePerfectDays / Denver Article by: Linda Hayes / Photography by Joshua Paul (http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/3PD/Denver/day1.php) Set in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains and long overshadowed by the high-profile ski towns located within “them thar hills,” the Mile High City of Denver is a formidable—and contemporary— destination in its own right. Denver’s savvy restaurants, state-of-the-art sporting venues, and booming art and cultural scene are making regular appearances on national best-of lists. In addition to having a thriving downtown and hip historic districts like LoDo, Denver is showing its diversity in up-and-coming neighborhoods like Highlands and the ArtDistrict on Santa Fe. A strong focus on sustainability means the city is green even in winter. And you’ll enjoy plenty of the white stuff during your three days, with one fast-track train trip up to city-owned Winter Park Resort, a fun destination for skiers and nonskiers alike. DAY ONE /You’ll warm right away to the cosmopolitan vibe and good-natured staff at The Ritz-Carlton, Denver. The downtown location puts you in the perfect position for venturing out and about, and your plush Club Level room (with a Rolls-Royce Phantom to chauffeur you around) adds luxury to your stay. After a leisurely Club Lounge breakfast, grab a map from the Club Concierge and hit the streets. Dress warmly; the sun might be shining brightly, but mornings can be chilly. LoDo is your destination, a decidedly hip section of town, where century-old warehouses and Victorian buildings house an eclectic collection of restaurants, galleries, and shops. From the hotel, walk to pedestrian-only 16th Street Mall, and then stroll (or catch one of the hybrid-electric buses) up a half-dozen blocks to Wazee Street. At Rockmount Ranch Wear, you can dress yourself from head to toe in classic Western duds, including the original snap-button shirts by “Papa Jack” Weil, who founded the place in 1946. He worked here every day, outfitting the likes of Tom Hanks and Dwight Yoakam, until he passed away this past August at 107. His grandson, Steve, runs things now, and the creaky wooden floors and Old West hospitality are the same as they ever were. Continue along 16th Street to the 20,000-square-foot landmark outpost of the famed Tattered Cover Book Store, one of the largest independent bookstores in the country. Peruse the shelves for fiction, periodicals, or Colorado coffee-table books; then cozy up in one of the nooks and crannies. On the way out, grab a latte at the coffee bar, and set off to the snazzy new Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. MCA Denver, as it’s known, is easy to spot. Just look for the electric light heart-and-dagger sculpture at the entrance of the David Adjaye–designed, environmentally sustainable museum. Six exhibition spaces within the translucent walls cover such themes as photography, new media, and paper works. Grab lunch at the MCA Café—try a tasty Colorado cheese plate and green tea. If you’re up for a brisk winter walk, hoof it to Highlands via the striking Denver Millennium Bridge, which resembles a ship’s sails as it spans the South Platte River (or catch a cab). Your destination is West 15th Street, and the agenda is shopping. Animal lovers will appreciate the pet-friendly fabrics, custom dog beds, and “furniture for you and your human” at The Livable Home. The Mona Lucero boutique features fashionable finds such as clothing, jewelry, and collectibles by up-and-coming Colorado designers, including Lucero herself. Colorful Red Door Swingin’ overflows with messenger bags, baby booties, and an array of other items. By now, the sun has set and hunger has surely set in. You have a reservation for dinner at Duo Restaurant, a quick cab ride away. All brick walls and plank floors, with an open kitchen in back, this buzzing restaurant is popular for chef John Broening’s seasonal dishes, as well as favorites like free-range buttermilk-fried chicken with Hoppin’ John bacon or grilled flatiron steak with fresh parsley and anchovy salsa verde. Afterward, try the sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Now’s a good time to summon the hotel’s Rolls, but instead of going directly back to the hotel, stop off at The Cruise Room in the historic Oxford Hotel. There, amid the art deco décor and trendy LoDo crowd, you can sip a Pink Flamingo, or any of 35 libations from the legendary martini list. Thus fortified, the short trek back to The Ritz is a breeze. continue to Day 2...

Jack Weil Aug 28th 2008 The Economist Jack A. Weil, patriarch of western clothing, died on August 13th, aged 107 Reuters IN THE annals of fashion the snap-fastener, or press-stud, holds a humble place. Few care that it was invented in Germany, as the Federknopf-Verschluss, in the 1880s. Not many appreciate that some varieties have discs and grooves, while others boast sockets with studs. And almost no one considers that they give a man style. But Jack Weil did. Mr Weil reckoned that a cowboy on a horse, if wearing a shirt with buttons, was liable to get snagged on sagebrush or cactus or, worse than that, get a steerhorn straight through his fancy buttonhole. He was pretty certain, too, that a cowboy losing a button would feel disinclined to sew it on again. The answer to all those difficulties was to make shirts with snap-fasteners. And for 62 years, in a red-brick warehouse in the LoDo district of Denver, Mr Weil did exactly that. He also added a few more customisings. Pockets with sawtooth flaps, to keep tobacco in; a yoke fit, to broaden out the shoulders; body-hugging seams, to show the fine muscles of a cattleman; and deep cuffs. The hats, belts, buckles and bolo ties, which he also commercialised, were optional. But the snap-fasteners were de rigueur: topped with pearl and backed with tin, square or circular or diamond-shaped, strong enough to pass without cracking through the wringer of a 1940s washing-machine, and flash enough to turn heads on the streets of Denver on a Saturday night. “A cinch”, as Mr Weil proudly said. Until he created his shirts, there was no distinctively western look in American couture. There were cowboys; but they wore dusty working clothes, accessorised with sweaty bandannas and clanking spurs, that no one much cared to copy. Indeed, Mr Weil early on in his career made work-gear for cowboys, and learnt an important fact: they had no money. If he wanted to make any money himself, he would have to appeal not to the catwalk instincts of cattlemen, which were hard to spot, but to wannabe easterner cowboys who lived in, say, New York. Fortunately, there were plenty of them. His shirts, sold after 1946 through his company, Rockmount Ranch Wear, became extremely famous. The Premium Blue Flannel Plaid was worn by Ronald Reagan, and the Pink Gabardine by Bob Dylan. Eric Clapton liked the diamond-snap number; Robert Redford in “The Horse Whisperer” wore a rayon plaid. Mr Weil’s company clad Elvis Presley, John Travolta and almost everyone, gay or straight, in “Brokeback Mountain”. It also made the shirts, in red, white and blue, for the Colorado House delegation at this year’s Democratic convention. Mr Weil very narrowly missed seeing them, but that would not have troubled him. He thought that “any young man worth his salt” ought to be a Democrat; but that once he had a bit of money, the only way to keep hold of it was to turn Republican. In his long, long life, Mr Weil accumulated plenty of simple business sense. He knew J.C. Penney, and thought him smart. Levi-Strauss was a nice fellow, but got too big for his britches; Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, was a “hillbilly son of a bitch”. Walton constantly harassed him to supply Wal-Mart with shirts, but Mr Weil never wanted any customer to take more than 5% of his business. He felt he would lose control that way, and he considered discounters low-life in general. What mattered were two things, quality, and knowing the customer: which was why, until a few weeks before his death, “Papa Jack” was always to be found from 8am till noon at his front desk in the company store on Wazee Street, poring over the past-due accounts and shaking hands with whoever came in, asking “Where you from?” and frequently being astounded at the answer. Republican or not, globalisation was lost on him. He insisted that his shirts were manufactured in America. Sure, it cost more than getting them sewn in China; but if Chinese people made them, that would take jobs from Americans and mean they couldn’t buy his shirts anyway. When Reagan declared once that America had become a service economy, Mr Weil wrote to him complaining that “where I come from in southern Indiana, servicing meant when you took the mare to the stud.” Reagan gently pointed out to “Jack” that things were less simple in Washington. Ungartered socks Much as he loved them, Mr Weil had not begun in shirts. The farm boy had started off, at $25 a week, inspecting navy dungarees, and had moved on eventually to be a travelling rep for Paris Garters (“Not once, but many times”, the advert ran, “she had noticed his ungartered socks crumpling down around his shoe tops.”) His territory ran from the Mexican border to the Canadian. He supposed, diffidently, that he might need a car; though something better than the Model-T Ford he first drove, with wire wheels attached so loosely that if you backed up the street too far, they fell off. He arrived in Denver in 1928 to find a rough-and-rumble cow-town of 200,000 people, famous mostly for the gold that had been discovered there. By his 107th year, as he noted with wonder, it was a city of 2m; and there was a Jack A. Weil Way in it, besides his own face looking down from the billboards of the Denver Visitors Bureau. And he, his grandson liked to say, had become the Henry Ford of the western look, snap-fasteners and all.

Chicago Tribune August 24, 2008 Denver hosts the Democrats—and a ton of fun By Anne Spiselman | Special to the Chicago Tribune For the first time in a century, the Democratic National Convention is in Denver. The Mile High City will be jammed with candidates, delegates, journalists, lobbyists and assorted hangers-on this week, but soon after is a fine time to visit. You'll find an expanding metropolis that manages to retain a compact feel, as well as increasingly "in" neighborhoods with names like LoDo (Lower Downtown) and LoHi (Lower Highlands). Getting around on foot or public transportation is easy, and the buses that run along the 16th Street Mall (a pedestrian shopping strip) are free. For more, go to www.denver.org Colorado State Capitol The white granite, gold leaf-domed Colorado State Capitol, designed by Elijah E. Myers and built in the 1890s with mostly local materials, is a must-see, whether you take a free 45-minute tour or wander around by yourself. Be sure to notice Denverite Alan True's murals depicting Colorado water use, bronze elevator doors chronicling the state's history and the council chambers. Presidential portraits lining the third-floor rotunda were donated in 1979 with a trust fund to keep the gallery updated in perpetuity, so Mr. Obama or Mr. McCain will join them soon. Make an appointment to visit the Dome for panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains. A tip: Stand on the 13th step on the west side of the building and you're exactly one mile above sea level. Denver Art Museum Daniel Libeskind designed the dramatic, titanium-clad Frederic C. Hamilton Building, which opened in 2006 and connects to Gio Ponti's 1971 North Building via a glassed-in second-floor bridge. More than 50,000 square feet—nary a straight wall, tons of maze-like layouts—showcase modern and contemporary, Oceanic and Western American art as well as temporary exhibits, among them "Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism" (through Sept. 7). Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver Opened with great fanfare last October, this striking glass box designed by architect David Adjaye is the first contemporary art museum in the country to obtain Gold LEED certification as a "green" building and deserves kudos for taking advantage of natural light. Exhibits are temporary. Best bet: Hang out at the rooftop MCA Cafe and enjoy the garden and people-watching. Related links If you go Larimer Square Saved from destruction in the 1960s and renovated as an urban-renewal project, Denver's oldest block is lined with Victorian brick buildings housing trendy stores, restaurants and night spots. Start by shopping for Western- and Asian-influenced clothing and accessories at Cry Baby Ranch, have a glass of bubbly at Corridor 44, the city's first Champagne bar, and finish with fresh bacon on curry-scented chickpea puree and grilled Colorado lamb at Rioja. Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art Denver's quirkiest museum feels more like a classy antiques shop, thanks to the organized jumble of decorative arts, regional art (with an emphasis on Colorado Modernism) and Vance Kirkland paintings. Kirkland used the original 1910-11 Arts and Crafts building as his art school/studio, surrounding himself with works by his contemporaries, as well as Art Nouveau, Art Deco and other beautifully designed objects. His heir, Hugh Grant, kept adding to the furniture, ceramics, glassware, etc., eventually expanding the building and opening to the public in 2003. Afterward, walk up the street to Liks Ice Cream Parlor for creamy house-made ice cream in myriad flavors, quite a few of them invented by customers. Denver Performing Arts Complex Ten venues make up the country's second-largest performing arts complex. The Ellie Caulkins Opera House, which opened in 2005 as the state-of-the-art home of Opera Colorado, is in the building that originally was the multipurpose Municipal Auditorium, where the 1908 Democratic National Convention took place. Big Blue Bear More than 300 public artworks dot the city, and part of the fun is coming upon them by surprise. Everybody loves the 40-foot-high, vibrant blue bear peeking in the windows of the Colorado Convention Center. Its real title is "I See What You Mean," and artist Lawrence Argent, who created it in 2005 out of steel encased in a concrete/fiberglass composite, has called it his "stylized representation of native fauna." Rockmount Ranch Wear No enterprise epitomizes Denver's pioneer spirit more than Rockmount, started in 1946 and known for making the first Western shirts with snaps. Worn in dozens of films by stars ranging from Elvis Presley to Meg Ryan, the signature "diamond" snap, "sawtooth" pocket designs in more than 100 fabrics fill the racks, complemented by skirts, boots, hats, belts and everything else a cowboy or cowgirl needs.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93874939 The Democratic National Convention 'Cowtown' or Cosmopolitan? Denver Manages Its Image by Kirk Siegler Listen Now [4 min 58 sec] add to playlist Related NPR Stories Aug. 20, 2008 Democrats Party In Denver Like It's 1908 Day to Day, August 22, 2008 · Denver is debating how it wants to be portrayed as thousands of journalists and delegates arrive for the Democratic National Convention. But Denverites are split over whether to play up the city's folksy western reputation or its emergence as a cultured city. Kirk Siegler reports for KUNC.

Oldest CEO And Popularizer Of Cowboy Shirts Dies Listen Now [3 min 1 sec] add to playlist Enlarge Courtesy Rockmount Ranch Wear Jack Weil, founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear, died Wednesday. See Weil's Cowboy Shirts The Rockmount Web Site All Things Considered, August 15, 2008 · Jack Weil, who was said to be the oldest working CEO in America, has died at the age of 107. "Papa Jack" — as he was fondly known — founded Rockmount Ranch Wear in 1946 in Denver. His snap-buttoned shirts were a must-have for anyone who wanted to look like a cowboy — from Clark Gable to Elvis Presley to Eric Clapton to Heath Ledger. His grandson Steve Weil calls Jack Weil "very inspiring." "His work was his second romance — next to his marriage," he says.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Jack A. Weil, 107; designed, popularized cowboy shirts with snap fasteners   Barry Gutierrez / Associated Press Jack Weil, founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear, puts on his hat at company headquarters in Denver last year. “You have to appeal to the cowboy in everyone,” he once said. By Martin Weil, Washington Post August 19, 2008 Jack A. Weil, a celebrated entrepreneur of the American West who added snaps and snappiness to cowboy shirts and then sold the garments to thousands who never saw the sagebrush, died Wednesday at his home in Denver. He was 107. As founder and head of Rockmount Ranch Wear, Weil was regarded as a successful businessman and a symbol of longevity. Jack Weil Considered the Henry Ford of the western shirt and a major force behind a notably American fashion, he was also said to be America's oldest chief executive. A visionary and a classic innovator, Weil conceived the idea more than 60 years ago that "Westerners needed their own fashion identity," according to grandson Steve Weil. Aiming to give western wear a look as distinctive as the region's topography and lifestyle, his grandson said, Weil created a slim-fitting shirt with a cut, cuffs, pocketing and fastenings that would make it immediately recognizable. "Every design element was given a flourish," his grandson said. Distinctive in their dash and flair, the shirts featured a special yoke and elaborate hand embroidery. Other designers, of course, helped create the western look, but Weil was there at the beginning and was considered "the father of the snap western shirt." One of his company's designs, saw-toothed pocket flaps and diamond-shaped snap fasteners, is "the longest-running shirt design in America," said his grandson, who is president of Rockmount. Weil was born March 28, 1901, in Evansville, Ind. His father came from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France. Weil moved to Denver to sell garters for a Chicago firm and later became a partner in a company that sold work wear to cowboys. He began making western shirts based on designs he saw in movies. In 1946, he founded his own company. It soon became identified with the snap fastener, which was said to have the advantage of popping open if pulled, thus saving a shirt's fabric from tearing. Weil also popularized the bolo tie. Known as an inventive marketer and astute businessman, Weil joked that the family "would have starved if we only sold to cowboys," his grandson said. "You have to appeal to the cowboy in everyone," Weil once told the Associated Press. He popularized his products in many ways, his grandson said, offering buyers around the world wearable symbols of the romance of the West. As a manufacturer, he offered small retailers the same prices as big chains, and felt strongly that when possible his products should be made in the United States. According to the company, Rockmount shirts have been worn by many entertainers, including the cast of the film "Brokeback Mountain." "He lived a vibrant life for 107 years and five months," his grandson said, "and he never got tired, until the last few weeks." Weil's wife, Beatrice, died in 1990. His son, Jack B. Weil, who had been active in the company, died this year. In addition to his grandson, Weil's survivors include a daughter, Jane Romberg of Steamboat Springs, Colo.; four other grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

The Denver Post August 18, 2008 Front page article, continued in Denver and the West Grandchildren tip hats to "Papa Jack" By Tom McGhee Western-wear icon Jack A. Weil once told his grandson that his daily schedule depended on what he found in the obituary page. "Every morning I read the obits, and if my name is not there, I get dressed and go to work," Steve Weil recalled his grandfather saying, for those gathered at a memorial service Sunday. Jack Weil, founder and operator of Rockmount Ranch Wear, died last week at 107. He continued to work until he became sick in recent days and is believed to have been the oldest working chief executive. Weil's adult grandchildren shared tearful and often humorous anecdotes during the service at Temple Emanuel about the man the world knew as the creator of the snap-pocket Western shirt. Weil was a born storyteller, a compassionate, outspoken, tenacious, ethical and sharp businessman who lived life on his own terms, they said. People would ask Weil to share the secret to his longevity, said Judy Oksner, and "Papa Jack" would reply that he took a few shots of whiskey each week, just to keep the blood thin. "The truth about his long life — he just kept going, he didn't know how to quit. Before his 5th birthday he had survived every disease that my kids have been vaccinated against," she added. He continued to drive his own car until he was 102, giving Oksner some shaky moments. "My theory was if Papa's driving didn't kill him, nothing would." Weil was widely known as "Papa Jack," but in his family he had another name, said Janet Pollack, his fifth grandchild. "Stinky — unless he was angry with you and he became 'That's Mr. Stinky to you.' " "Being with Papa was really fun," said Gail Sigman. As a child she would visit the store and run her fingers through piles of sparkling rhinestones he used to add flash to Western shirts. Weil founded Rockmount in 1946 and designed sawtooth pocket flaps and a diamond-shaped snap for his shirts. The design has been continuously produced in America longer than any other shirt style. Sigman, who studied business management, decided to write a paper about Rockmount, thinking it would be a simple business to analyze. When she finished, she thought she would be able to tell Weil what he could do to improve. It didn't work out that way. "He knew all the things that these business management people were telling me," she said. Weil was devoted to the business — his late wife, Beatrice, called Rockmount his "mistress" — and treated celebrities and common folks with the same unfailing good cheer and honesty. His customers included Ronald Reagan, Clark Gable, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen and many others. When Steve Weil would ask his grandfather for advice, Weil would ask why he needed it because the younger man would surely make his own decision. "I asked him because he always knew the right thing to do," Steve Weil said. Weil passed on a simple message about career, said Steve Weil: "He said pick a job you love — there is no more drudgery than a job you disdain." Each of Jack Weil's grandchildren worked at the store when they turned 16, though only Steve Weil made it a career. Pollack said: "We all felt, and still feel, proud that Rockmount is our family business."

WASHINGTON POST Jack A. Weil, 107; Entrepreneur Put Style in Western Wear Jack A. Weil, at the helm of Rockmount Ranch Wear for decades, was said to be the country's oldest chief executive. His clothing was used in "Brokeback Mountain." (By David Zalubowski -- Associated Press) By Martin Weil Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, August 17, 2008; Page C08 Jack A. Weil, a celebrated entrepreneur of the American West, who added snaps and snappiness to cowboy shirts and then sold those shirts to thousands who never saw the sagebrush, died Aug. 13 at his home in Denver. He was 107. The cause of death was not reported. As founder and head of Rockmount Ranch Wear, Mr. Weil was regarded as a successful businessman and a symbol of longevity. Considered the Henry Ford of the western shirt and a major force behind a notably American fashion, he was also said to be America's oldest chief executive. A visionary and a classic innovator, Mr. Weil conceived the idea more than 60 years ago, according to grandson Steve Weil, that "westerners needed their own fashion identity." Aiming, his grandson said, to give western wear a look as distinctive as the region's topography and lifestyle, Mr. Weil created a slim-fitting shirt that in its cut and its cuffs, its pocketing and its fastenings, was to prove immediately recognizable. "Every design element was given a flourish," said his grandson. Distinctive in their dash and flair, the shirts featured a special yoke and elaborate hand embroidery. Others, of course, helped create the western look, but Mr. Weil "was there at the beginning" and was "considered the father of the snap western shirt." One of his company's designs, with its saw-toothed pocket flaps and its diamond-shaped snap fasteners, is "the longest running shirt design in America," said the grandson, who is company president. Mr. Weil was born March 28, 1901, in Evansville, Ind., to a father who had come from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France. He moved to Denver to sell garters for a Chicago firm and later became a partner in a company that sold work wear to cowboys. He began making western shirts based on designs he saw in movies. In 1946, he founded his own company. It soon became identified with the snap fastener, which was said to have the advantage of popping open if pulled, thus saving a shirt's fabric from tearing. Mr. Weil also popularized the bolo tie. Known as an inventive marketer and astute businessman, Mr. Weil kept his company thriving through principles and practices that he often expressed with pungency and wit. Although Rockmount was famous for cowboy clothing, Mr. Weil joked that the family "would have starved if we only sold to cowboys," his grandson said. "You have to appeal to the cowboy in everyone," Mr. Weil once told the Associated Press. Hence, his grandson said, he popularized his products in many ways, offering buyers around the world wearable symbols of the romance of the West. As a manufacturer, he offered small retailers the same prices as big chains, and felt strongly that to the fullest possible extent his products should be made in the United States. According to the company, Rockmount shirts have been worn by many entertainers, including the cast of the Academy Award-winning film "Brokeback Mountain." Survivors include a daughter, Jane Romberg of Steamboat Springs, Colo.; five grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. His wife, Beatrice Weil, died in 1990. His son, Jack B. Weil, who had been prominent in the company for years, died this year. At the end, his grandson said, Mr. Weil "just gave out." "He lived a vibrant life for 107 years and 5 months," Steve Weil said, "and he never got tired, until the last few weeks." When asked for career advice, Mr. Weil would say, "Do what you love." He followed his own advice, his grandson said.

Memorial held for Jack A. Weil 'the universal grandpa' Hundreds honor man whose business was symbol of West By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News Monday, August 18, 2008 Photo by Ahmad Terry Jack A. Weil, right, founder of Rockmount Ranchwear, is lead by Mayor John Hickenlooper, left, and Weil's grandson Steve Weil, center, to a 105th birthday celebration in Denver Tuesday Mar. 28, 2006. A portion of Wazee Rd. near 17th St. in downtown Denver was re-named to Jack A. Weil Way was held as part of the celebration. Denver city officials recognize Weil as the oldest active CEO in America. Photo by Preston Gannaway LoDo buildings are reflected in the windows of neighboring Rockmount Ranch Wear on Sunday. The shop was closed while more than 200 people gathered across town to remember its founder, Jack Weil. Weil died Wednesday at the age of 107.                                                               ------------------------------- Western wear pioneer Jack A. Weil had a saying he would use when people around him started pining for the old days, one of his granddaughters recalled Sunday at a memorial service for the 107-year-old family patriarch. "Was ain't is," Gail Sigman recalled her grandfather saying. It was one of many lessons he taught her and the rest of their family, she said during a eulogy for her grandfather. Change is the only constant, she said. "Understand it. Get over it. Move on." Weil's five grandchildren recounted several such lessons to an audience of several hundred people who came to pay their respects during the service at Temple Emmanuel. More than 200 people attended, including Mayor John Hickenlooper, City Auditor Dennis Gallagher and several City Council members. Since his death Wednesday, the passing of a man whose cowboy apparel business grew into a symbol for Denver and the West has been featured in The New York Times and the CBS Sunday Morning show. Grandson Steve Weil, president of Rockmount Ranch Wear, the company his grandfather started in 1946, said he was overwhelmed at the outpouring of attention. But Weil noted his grandfather never let the public attention go to his head during his life. "He used to say, 'I read the obituaries, and if my name is not there, I get dressed and go to work,' " his grandson recalled. "He went from a family patriarch to a cultural phenomenon. He was kind of a universal grandpa." Sigman recalled how when she was a college student writing a term paper on management style, she decided to make her grandfather's business a case study. Eventually, she learned that about 90 percent of what she was learning, her grandfather already had been doing. "He taught me that relationships are everything," she recalled. Granddaughter Judy Oksner remembered a similar lesson. "He also taught me that it isn't about getting there, it's about going," she said. "And he just kept going." She recalled going to see him one recent afternoon when several other relatives also arrived, and she joked that it was like a party. "Papa Jack told us he had a bottle of champagne and he insisted that he open it, so we toasted him." Oksner then asked everyone gathered to do likewise, and so everyone in the synagogue raised their hands with an imaginary glass. Rabbi Steven Foster recalled attending Weil's 105th birthday party: "Papa Jack" would sit in one corner and tell a story to just about everyone who came up to talk with him. Sometimes Weil would tell the same story, knowing full well that he had told the tale before. "It wasn't so much the story as much as he wanted people to know that he cared for them," Foster recalled.

THE DENVER POST THEATER | John MooreCurious Theater gave "Papa Jack" stirring tribute in May By John Moore Denver Post Theater Critic Sunday, August 17, 2008 "Papa Jack Weil" addresses the crowd at Curious Theatre's "Denver Stories" on May 21. (Michael Ensminger) "Papa Jack" Weil at a fundraiser for Curious Theatre on May 21. (Michael Ensminger) Denver icon "Papa Jack" Weil, who died Wednesday at 107, was honored May 21 at Curious Theatre's annual fundraiser, "Denver Stories." The company assigns a playwright to a local celebrity, and the resulting 10-minute plays are then performed by some of Denver's best actors. Steven Cole Hughes, whose latest play, "Billy Hell," premieres Aug. 29 at the Creede Repertory Theatre, was assigned to Weil, founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear and believed to be the oldest working CEO in America before his death. Hughes' "107 Short Plays About Papa Jack Weil" had fun with the difficulty in finding an actor to play a 107-year-old (that job went to Michael Morgan, 70-something years too young for the role), and telling such a sweeping life story in 10 minutes. The cast also included Erik Sandvold and Rhonda Brown. Michael Morgan and Rhonda Brown perform "107 Short Plays About Papa Jack Weil" at a fundraiser for Curious Theatre on May 21. (Michael Ensminger) "He was a genuine American original, and he will be missed by his friends, which has to be about a million people," said Hughes. That's because Weil talked to every person who came into his store "for as long as he possibly could," Hughes said, "and by the time they left, they were best friends." Curious founder Chip Walton said Hughes' script was "the best play ever written for this event." When the performance was over, Weil rose from the house and addressed the audience. "Once Jack starts to tell a story, it's hard to get him to stop," Walton said. "You're kind of a captive audience." Until his grandson got up and said, "Papa Jack: Your 15 minutes of fame are up," which drew a standing ovation — for both. "The purpose of 'Denver Stories' is to honor those individuals who have done the most for Denver, and I can't imagine anyone more interesting or exciting than Jack," Walton said. "He was one of a kind, a fellow Hoosier, and lived a life full and amazing." To read Steven Cole Hughes' entire 10-minute play about Jack Weil, click here

The Rocky Mountain News A hat tip to 'Papa Jack' Weil By Jane Hoback & Gil Rudawsky Saturday, August 16, 2008 We lost the oldest CEO in Colorado, and probably in the U.S., this week. Rockmount Ranch Wear founder Jack A. Weil died Wednesday at the age of 107. Grandson Steve Weil, Rockmount's 49-year-old president, recently told Rocky contributor Bill Gallo that "Papa Jack" had reduced his work schedule in recent times from 12-hour days to five mornings a week. "But he was still active. He loved being the greeter. He talked to 50 people a day." "My grandfather was to Western shirts what Levi's was to blue jeans," Steve Weil told Gallo. "One of his most remarkable traits was an ability to live on his own terms. That's probably the result of growing up in the early 1900s and enduring the Depression. He was self-made and self-educated, and he had a strong code of ethics." Papa Jack's legend grew as the clock ticked on his life. In recent years, he was profiled by CBS-TV, National Public Radio and The Wall Street Journal, among others. An old-school businessman who valued a handshake over a complex legal contract, he also had an eye for innovation: Rockmount got its first computer in the 1960s, and it nimbly adapted when the U.S. textiles industry fell on hard times. Weil lamented the annihilation of small business by corporate giants: In the London Times, he called Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton a "hillbilly." After five years of trying, Jay Leno finally landed Papa Jack as a guest on the Tonight Show in 2007. But the show had to come to Denver - in the person of Leno emissary Mo Rocca. Asked which candidate he would favor when the Democratic National Convention hits town, the playful 106-year-old replied: "None of them. I'm a Republican." Always, his grandson says, he conducted business with grace and good cheer. "You like me better than your mother?" Papa Jack once asked a retailer who was behind in his payments. "She carried you nine months; I've carried you 10." He did it with a smile, Steve Weil remembers. "He always had a heart, and he never charged interest. His legacy will be that he always treated people the way he wanted to be treated. He had true integrity."|

Rocky Mountain News Friday, August 15, 2008 by Penny Parker WEIL'S WAY: I'm sorry, but I can't believe Jack A. "Papa Jack" Weil is gone. I've always thought of him as a Timex watch . . . he just kept on ticking. So the news of his passing Wednesday night at the age of 107 shook me. The last time I saw him was in May during Curious Theatre Co.'s annual Denver Stories, a series of vignettes about Denver denizens. After the mini-play about him was performed, Jack A. addressed the crowd and continued to tell stories until his grandson and Rockmount Ranch Wear President Steve Weil ended the monologue. "Papa Jack, it's Andy Warhol on the phone and your 15 minutes are up," Steve teased. It was priceless, as was the vignette that told Jack A.'s story in 107 short plays. So, if you'll indulge me, I'd like to reprint some Papa Jack-isms from Denver Stories: * "I came to Denver in 1928. There were 200 people here; now there's 2 million. Damn Californians!" * "They say I have an amazing memory for my age. I say, 'Who the hell is going to contradict me?' " When a New York Times reporter interviewed Weil about the passing of Sam Walton, the Wal-Mart czar who pestered Weil to mass produce shirts for the massive retailer, Weil replied, "I don't have too much to say about him except he was a hillbilly (SOB)." A remarkable man, a remarkable life, a remarkable legacy. I will miss him dearly. His memorial service will be at 10 a.m. Sunday at Temple Emanuel, 51 Grape St.

By DOUGLAS MARTIN August 14, 2008 Jack A. Weil, the Cowboy’s Dresser, Dies at 107 Rick Wilking/Reuters, 2006 Jack A. Weil, a garter salesman, breezed into Denver in 1928 in a new Chrysler Roadster to start a new life. He exceeded his hopes and became a king of cowboy couture — almost certainly the first to put snaps on Western shirts (17 on a shirt), and most likely the first to produce bolo ties commercially. Rockmount Ranch Wear Mfg. Co.   A style that became a classic. His Rockmount Ranch Wear Mfg. Company has sold millions of shirts, including at least one shipment to Antarctica, since it started in 1946. Clark Gable wore one in “The Misfits” with Marilyn Monroe, and Heath Ledger’s shirt in “Brokeback Mountain” — plaid fabric, diamond snaps and saw-tooth pockets — was Style No. 69-39. Until Wednesday, when he died at 107 in Denver, Mr. Weil was still chief executive of the company he founded and, until just before his death, came to work daily. He was regularly called the oldest chief executive still working. Known as Papa Jack, Mr. Weil said he owed his longevity to quitting smoking at 60 (after starting at 40), drinking at 90 and eating red meat at 100. He did have a medicinal shot of Jack Daniels twice a week . In announcing the death, his grandson, Steve Weil, Rockmount’s president, said Mr. Weil was to Western shirts what Henry Ford was to cars, and, indeed, the global spread of cowboy style owes much to him. The shirt — tailored close to the body, with “yokes” that seem to broaden the shoulders of cowpokes and city slickers alike and often with distinctive “smile” pockets — offers more than snaps. But snaps matter, not least to cowboys who are not handy at sewing. They break loose easily if the shirt is caught on a hostile horn. (They also offer a dramatic way to bare one’s chest, but that might be another story.) Jack Arnold Weil was born on March 28, 1901, in Evansville, Ind., where his father, Abraham, had come to avoid being impressed into the Prussian army in the Franco-Prussian War. Jack and his brother, Edgar, delivered newspapers, outdoing other youths by using a horse and buggy, not bicycles. In World War I, young Jack inspected dungarees for shipment to the Navy. Mr. Weil took a job selling garters and suspenders, first in the Midwest, then in a territory sprawling from El Paso to Canada. He fell instantly in love with the Rocky Mountains and moved to Denver, where he put up a new-fangled neon sign that flashed “Garters.” He joined Phillip Miller in a company that later became Miller Stockman, another celebrated brand of Western clothes. It was called the Stockman Farmer Supply Company. “The first thing I did was get rid of the farmer,” Mr. Weil told Denver Westward in 2001. For the rest of his life, he sold the romance of the cowboy. Mr. Weil was a crafty promoter. In Cheyenne, Wyo., he persuaded the Chamber of Commerce that it would be a great idea for everybody to dress Western for the Frontier Days rodeo; fines for failing to do so went to charity. Of course, Mr. Weil gave a deal on the clothes. In 1946, Mr. Weil formed Rockmount, an abbreviation of Rocky Mountains. With the metal shortages of World War II over, he made diamond-shaped metal snaps, often with mother-of-pearl covers, the basis for his new business. Before long, Rockmount was selling Western fashion from belts to blouses. Various accounts say Mr. Weil either invented the modern bolo tie (a necktie made of cord with a decorative slide), or named it. Rockmount’s claims to have been the leader in mass-producing them seem widely accepted. Mr. Weil still had his shirts made in America long after his competitors moved overseas; he also refused to favor big chains like Wal-Mart over his traditional customers. “I never wanted to be the richest man in the cemetery,” he said. His wife of 64 years, the former Beatrice Baum, died in 1990, and their son, Jack B., died this January. Mr. Weil is survived by his daughter, Jane Romberg, of Steamboat Springs, Colo.; five grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. Mr. Weil was a creature of habit, driving an old Dodge. But he could not understand why people would collect old Western shirts. He was aghast when his grandson Steve excitedly called to say he had found an original Rockmount shirt and that the dealer had accepted two new shirts for it. “What?” Jack exclaimed. “You traded two perfectly good new shirts for an old one we sold for three dollars 40 years ago?” This article appeared in print on August 15, 2008, on page B5 of the New York edition.

Los Angeles Times August 14, 2008 Denver Western wear maker Jack Weil dies at 107 By IVAN MORENO The Associated Press DAVID ZALUBOWSKI In this Tuesday, March 27, 2001 file photo, Jack A. Weil, founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear, poses amid some of the ties and shirts sold by his company at its headquarters in downtown Denver. Weil, whose shirts were favored by movie actors and rock stars, died Wednesday. He was 107. Rockmount Ranch Wear Jack A. Weil, founder of the Rockmount Ranch Wear company whose snap-buttoned Western shirts became popular with movie stars and rock icons, has died. He was 107. Weil died Wednesday at home, said Steve Weil, his grandson, who is the president of the business his grandfather started in downtown Denver in 1946. Steve Weil said his grandfather was the first to design Western shirts with snap buttons and also created pockets with jagged, sawtooth-pattern flaps. The snaps are often topped with real or synthetic mother of pearl. "I learned fast you can't sell to cowboys; they have no money," the elder Weil said in a 2001 Associated Press interview. "You have to appeal to the cowboy in everyone and sell to them." Weil's shirts have been worn in movies by Elvis Presley, Clark Gable (in his last film, "The Misfits") and Heath Ledger ("Brokeback Mountain.") Bob Dylan, John Fogerty and Eric Clapton also have sported the shirts. In a 2004 Associated Press story on the company, blues and rock veteran Al Kooper said he had ordered shirts from Rockmount that week. "One of the biggest impressions on me is Elvis Presley. He wore Rockmount shirts," Kooper said. Rockmount designed shirts for Colorado's House delegation for the Democratic National Convention in Denver later this month. The price of a shirt has gone from about $2 in the 1940s to $60 and up today, mostly because the Weils kept manufacturing operations in the United States. "I never wanted to be the richest man in the cemetery," he told his grandson. Jack Weil remained chief executive officer of Rockmount and went to work daily until a few days before his death, his grandson said. He was believed to be the oldest CEO in the world. Born in Evansville, Ind., in 1901, Weil learned apparel manufacturing while working at an overalls factory during World War I. He later was a salesman in Denver, and first got into the Western field by helping a friend sell cowboy hats. Rockmount was a wholesale-only business for its first 55 years but opened a retail flagship after Denver lost many of its mainstay stores, his grandson said.

Papa Jack 1901 - 2008:  Rocky Mountain News ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS Thursday, August 14, 2009, front page Photo by Barry Gutierrez © The Rocky Jack A. Weil, the oldest working CEO in America and patriarch of a LoDo clothing company that put the snap in Western wear, died Wednesday night at the age of 107. Rockmount Ranch Wear Manufacturing Co. and Weil have been a fixture in lower downtown since 1946. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oldest working CEO Jack Weil dies at 107 By John C. Ensslin Jack A. Weil, the oldest working CEO in America and patriarch of a LoDo clothing company that put the snap in Western wear, died Wednesday night at the age of 107. Weil died at home surrounded by members of his family, said his oldest grandson, Steve Weil. A service is scheduled for Sunday at Temple Emanuel, but a time has not been set. Since founding the Rockmount Ranch Wear Manufacturing Co. in 1946, "Papa Jack" Weil and his company have been a fixture in lower downtown. He saw value in the former warehouse district long before it became fashionable as LoDo. With his cowboy hat, folksy manner and his favorite greeting - "Where you from?" - he welcomed everyone from truck drivers to celebrities like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Robert Redford and Eric Clapton. They all got the same friendly treatment, said Steve Weil, who went to work for his grandfather full time in the 1980s. Status never mattered. "He didn't care about what you were, he cared about who you were," his grandson said. His death comes about eight months after his son, Jack B. Weil, died. Symbol of the city Until a few weeks ago, the eldest Weil was a fixture in the store on a part of Wazee Street that the city renamed "Jack A. Weil Boulevard" when he turned 100. Each day, he would put in about four hours at the store, serving as the official greeter before heading for lunch with his son at the Denver Athletic Club. For many years, his grandfather was "kind of the family secret," Steve Weil said, someone his family admired and loved. But in recent years, he became the face of the company and later a memorable symbol for the city itself. He was featured on billboards and videos created by the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. "He was part of our brand. He's part of what makes Denver the West," said Mayor John Hickenlooper, who remembered Weil for his entrepreneurial spirit and ceaseless optimism. "He was somebody who just by being in the room helped everyone feel better," said Hickenlooper, who remembered first meeting "Jack A." back in 1987, when he asked him to sign a petition for a liquor license for what became the Wynkoop Brewing Co. Hickenlooper remembered Weil being skeptical of the idea of opening a restaurant in what had been a warehouse district, but on his grandson's recommendation he signed the petition. "He believed in self-reliance, but also in the value of community," Hickenlooper said, recalling the care Weil took in his business relations with the retailers who sold his Western wear. Andrew Hudson, who got to know Weil better while serving as spokesman for former Mayor Wellington Webb, said the 107-year-old businessman's influence went far beyond LoDo. "He was an icon," Hudson said. "He believed in business ethics long before it became a buzzword." 'Twinkle in his eye' Westword Editor Patricia Calhoun recalled meeting Weil back in the 1970s when Westword's offices were located near Rockmount. "He was just funny as anything and really created a tremendous legacy in this town," Calhoun said, adding that she enjoyed seeing him every St. Patrick's Day at McCormick's restaurant. "He always had a twinkle in his eye and told these great jokes, usually at the expense of Democrats," she recalled. It probably would have tickled him to see Democrats buying his shirts during the convention later this month, she said. Stewart Patton, the doorman at the Oxford Hotel, got to know Weil after helping him into a car one day. "He said, 'Where you from?' And I said, 'Oh a little town in Indiana you probably never heard of.' " "Try me," Weil answered. "Poseyville, Indiana," Patton said. "Poseyville? That's seven miles from Harmony. My brother and I used to herd cattle through there in 1918." Thereafter, Weil would always say howdy to Patton, and then, with a twinkle in his eye, added, "Do you believe he didn't think I knew where Poseyville was?" Weil was born March 28, 1901, in Evansville, Ind., where his father, Abraham, who lived until 90, was a cattleman. During a labor shortage in World War I, Weil went to work after school in the DS Bernstein Overall Factory, where he began a lifetime of learning the apparel manufacturing business. When he started Rockmount, Weil became what his grandson called "the Henry Ford" of Western shirts by inventing the sawtooth pocket and diamond snap design. Weil is survived by his daughter, Jane Romberg, of Steamboat Springs, and by five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. ensslinj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5291 A Denver cowboy legend Jack "Papa Jack" A. Weil * March 28, 1901: Born in Evansville, Ind. * World War I: Works after school at DS Bernstein Overall Factory in Evansville, learning apparel manufacturing * 1926: Marries Beatrice Baum of Humboldt, Tenn. * 1928: A. Stein Co. sends him to Denver to open an office on Champa Street * 1932: Partners with Phil Miller in a Western- apparel company that eventually becomes Miller Stockman * 1946: Founds Rockmount Ranch Wear Mfg. on Wazee Street * 1974: Brother Edgar Weil dies * 1990: Wife Beatrice dies * 2001: City of Denver renames Wazee Street to Jack A. Weil Boulevard to celebrate his 100th birthday, a tradition that continues each year. He also celebrates his birthday by appearing on Good Morning America. * February 2002: Rockmount Ranchwear Co. opens first retail store at site of its offices, 1626 Wazee St. * November 2002: Rockmount Ranchwear Co. opens first mall store at Colorado Mills. * 2007: Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau features Jack A. Weil in national advertising campaign for city of Denver and he is featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (the show films him in Denver) * January 2008: Son Jack B. Weil dies * May 2008: Jack A. Weil is one of four Denver luminaries celebrated in a fundraiser performance at the Curious Theatre SLIDE SHOW: Jack A. Weil dies at 107 STATEMENT: From Weil family WESTWORD Jack A. Weil proved that the West is not a place, but a state of mind By Patricia Calhoun August 21, 2008  anthony camera Jack A. Weil showed us how the West was worn. "The West is not a place," Jack A. Weil would say. "It's a state of mind." Jack A. entered that state for good in 1928, when the then-27-year-old salesman for Paris Garters drove his brand-new Chrysler Roadster across the plains to Denver. Born in Evansville, Indiana, the son of a Jewish refugee who'd come to this country alone when he was just sixteen, Jack A. had been given the chance to trade his Memphis-based territory for a new office in Denver, covering everything from El Paso to the Canadian border, and he and his new wife, Beatrice, were up for the adventure. "We fell in love with this country," Jack A. told me a few years back. "To see all the wide-open space, to see the future, I knew I was home." He saw a future, his future, in the West, a land of endless opportunity. A place where you could make something not only of yourself, but make something that mattered. You just had to believe — and then work very hard. The couple scrimped and saved for a decade until they finally had enough money to buy a house. By now, Jack A. was tired of all the travel — he had a son, Jack B., and a daughter — and he'd taken a job with the Stockman Farmer Supply Company, convincing owner Phil Miller to get rid of the "Farmer" and focus on Western attire that would appeal to people other than cowboys. After all, Jack A. explained, "If they had any sense, they wouldn't have been cowboys. But I thought there was a tremendous future in promoting this thing. I didn't know anything about the business, but I knew what I wanted. In my love for the country and its potential, I figured we had a product. I knew how I felt about it. I knew about the romance of the country." In 1946, Jack A. founded his own company, Rockmount Ranch Wear, devoting himself full-time to that romance. (His wife, who passed away in 1990, always referred to the business as his "mistress"; Jack A. referred to Beatrice as "the Boss.") And he set out to show everyone how the West was worn. He popularized the bolo tie — his favorite clasp was an American silver dollar from 1901, the year of his birth — and created sawtooth pockets for his shirts, which he fastened with distinctive, diamond-shaped snap buttons now that the end of World War II had eased the metal shortage. Jack A. Weil wasn't the first person to strike out for a frontier and make a life and fortune there, and he won't be the last. But he did it with style and substance and grit, in the process helping to define Denver, this center of the new West. And all that time, he just thought he was working. It wasn't until around his hundredth birthday that the city really took notice of Jack A. and started renaming a stretch of Wazee Street after him every March. The 1600 block of Wazee had changed a lot since the days when the five-story warehouse was surrounded by other wholesale operations and businesses; it was now lined with lofts and galleries and restaurants that pointed the way to Coors Field. Steve Weil, who'd joined the family business more than a decade before, persuaded his father, Jack B., and his grandfather that Rockmount should add a retail shop, and even spruce up the old space. The result is a combination museum/Western-wear store, a must-stop for anyone visiting Denver, the most seductive tourist trap ever devised, filled with stylish boots and belts and those Rockmount shirts, the ones seen on rock stars and in Brokeback Mountain. And on so many of the people who came to Jack A. Weil's memorial service this past Sunday. It was not just a well-dressed memorial service, but a real celebration. Before he passed away on August 13, Jack had lived more than 107 years, and he'd lived those years well, filling them with great stories and sayings that spilled from his grandchildren as they shared their memories. "Was ain't is," a granddaughter remembered him saying, to show how life kept moving, kept changing. But one thing didn't change: You worked. And so even as the city made "Papa Jack" a marketing icon, even as the "country's oldest CEO" accolades started coming in, he just kept working. Jack A. would get up every morning, Steve remembered, read the obituaries, see that he wasn't in them, and go to the office. He kept working even after Jack B. passed away, greeting visitors to the store and telling his stories, showing the "government surplus" mule that had two rear ends and no head, pointing to the signed picture of President Ronald Reagan. "When he was elected, he started talking about a 'service economy,'" Jack A. remembered. "I wrote back that when I was growing up in Evansville, only a hundred miles from where he grew up in Dixon, 'service' was what happened when we took a mare to stud." Jack A. was a Republican — "a guy should only be a Democrat until he makes a little money," he'd say — but he was also a true son of the West, even if he was born in Indiana, and arrived here in a new Chrysler rather than on a horse. "Styled in the West by Westerners since 1946," proclaims the Rockmount slogan — and really, what matters is not where you came from, but what you do here. Was ain't is, and no one would have gotten a bigger kick out of all the people who will be in Denver for the Democratic National Convention than Jack A. Weil. He would have greeted customers and told his stories and helped set the stage for the future, for a time when all things are possible. When a 107-year-old CEO can become a city's poster boy, and Barack Obama can stand in that city's football stadium to be nominated as the Democratic candidate for President of the United States. The West is not a place, but a state of mind. And this week, it's wide open.

36 Hours in Denver for the DNC By ERIC WILSON August 10, 2008 THE shifting political landscape of the American West, where Democrats hope to make significant gains in several battleground states this fall, helped sell Denver as the site of the party’’s national convention, Aug. 25 to 28. But as easy as this city may be to navigate —— you can practically see from one end to the other, it’’s that flat —— Denver’’s political and social landscapes can still be tough for outsiders to read. With a convention that has already been beset by cost overruns and a severe cutback on pomp, some delegates may find it hard to see the gold here without first striking the surface. Still, as Molly Brown would attest, it’’s worth packing a pickax.... HOW THE WEST WAS WORN Let’s say you have an image problem. Some people, misguided as they may be, think you are an elitist. Now, that’’s nothing that can’t be fixed with a little fashion makeover at Rockmount Ranch Wear (1626 Wazee Street; 303-629-7777; www.rockmount.com), a LoDo shop famous in these parts for introducing the snap button to the western shirt, making it easier for cowboys to ride the range or re-enact scenes from “Brokeback Mountain.” (Yep, Jack and Ennis were Rockmount customers.) The store —— and an accompanying museum —— have the fascinating feel of history, with a lasso-rope logo and vintage displays, but the shirts have modern-day prices, most of them $62 to $84. Steve Weil, the president of Rockmount, is creating a special style for the convention, based on Denver’s abstract mountain flag, designed for the United States Congregational Delegation.

Aug 10, 12:10 PM EDT Rockmount shirts set the fashion in the West By IVAN MORENO Associated Press Writer DENVER (AP) -- Its Western shirts have been worn by everyone from Elvis Presley in "Love Me Tender" to Heath Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain." Actor Clark Gable and singer Bob Dylan also sported Rockmount Ranch Wear shirts, and when the Democratic National Convention rolls around, each member of Colorado's House delegation will have his or her own custom-made shirt. "The bottom line is, we are unique," said Steve Weil, Rockmount's president and the grandson of 107-year-old Jack A. Weil, the company's founder, fondly known as "Papa Jack." "We are the last domestic manufacturer of our type of product," Steve Weil said. Rockmount is a family-owned business that has stayed competitive in the global market. Papa Jack was the first to design Western shirts with snap buttons. Their sawtooth pockets and diamond button snaps are the longest-running design in the U.S., Steve Weil said. "It's been said New York has Barneys and Denver has Rockmount," he said. "We feel we exemplify what's special about Denver, and we get visitors from all over the world." Weil calls his grandfather the company's "secret weapon." He still goes to work every day and is the oldest CEO in the world. "He does what he likes and he loves what he does," Steve Weil said. "I liken my grandfather to shirts what Henry Ford is to cars." Jack Weil was born in Evansville, Ind., and came to Denver in 1928. He founded Rockmount in 1946 and has kept its headquarters in the same brick building on Wazee Street in Denver's Lower Downtown. Belts, cowboy hats, colorful ties and the ever-popular shirts adorn the first floor. With his 100th birthday, city officials changed the name of Wazee Street to "Jack A. Weil Way," a tribute to the man who put Western fashion on the map in Denver. --- On the Net: Rockmount Ranch Wear: http://www.rockmount.com © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Denver wants delegates to see the old and the new By JUDITH KOHLER – 8/10/08 (Google News Link) DENVER (AP) — This frontier town turned modern city wants to put its best foot forward for the Democratic National Convention — just not necessarily one wearing a cowboy boot. Western duds — like a shiny pair of boots, a finely shaped Stetson and a pearl-snap Western cut shirt — would've been appropriate for the rodeo Rep. Diana DeGette suggested for the party welcoming delegates and news media. That venue didn't sit well with some of the organizers and sponsors, she said, and they opted for an amusement park setting. "They didn't want to look like a cow town," DeGette, D-Colo., said, declining to name anyone. "I thought it would have been a great nod to our Western heritage and we could talk about Western values as we move forward." Conflicting feelings about Denver's Wild West image are nothing new. A century ago, when Denver was preparing to host its first Democratic National Convention, organizers were eager to present a modern, contemporary image. "We're really stuck with the idea that we want to look progressive and modern and cosmopolitan, but we also want to play up our romantic past," state historian Bill Convery said. "In 1908, Denver was trying to have it both ways." Back then, Damon Runyon, writing for the Rocky Mountain News before he made it big in New York City journalism, observed that men walking through downtown Denver were more likely to wear suits, ties and straw hats than boots and cowboy hats. But Denverites, some of whom lived through the rough-and-tumble years of frontier life, wanted to give convention-goers a sense of the city's colorful past. So, they brought in 40 Apache Indians from New Mexico who danced and camped in City Park. Denver has proved itself on the international stage. The city hosted Pope John Paul II in 1993 for World Youth Day, and the 1997 Summit of the Eight, which brought the leaders of the U.S., Russia, Canada, France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Japan. And still people fret about Denver being viewed as a cow town. "I think that's part of our civic psychology, it's deep in our civic DNA." Mayor John Hickenlooper said he believes in paying homage to Western values: self-reliance, innovation and strength. He has nothing against rodeos; the issue for him was logistics. The welcoming party was originally planned for Civic Center Park but then switched to Elitch Gardens amusement park, whose arena isn't big enough for bucking broncos or steer wrestling. Hickenlooper is eager to promote what is called the "New West" to the roughly 50,000 visitors expected for the Aug. 25-28 convention. He wants to make sure people hear about Colorado's booming energy industry — both conventional and renewable — and the kind of intergovernmental cooperation that resulted in more than 30 mayors supporting a $4.7 billion plan to expand light rail and bus service in the Denver metro area. "Denver's doing so much right now," Hickenlooper said. "We're trying to show off the kind of flavor of what the West has to offer." Sharon Linhart, managing partner of a Denver public relations firm, participated in rodeos growing up in northern Colorado but isn't sure that image best fits what the area has become. "The fact is our economy now is extremely diversified, resilient and contemporary," said Linhart, who heads a convention task force for a downtown business group. "We have fabulous culture and art." For Pat Grant, president and chief executive of the National Western Stock Show, there is no conflict between Denver's Western heritage and its status as a major metropolitan area in one of the fastest-growing parts of the nation. "People assume an international, cosmopolitan image is at variance with the notion of being a cow town," said Grant. "Let's celebrate and be excited for both." The 102-year-old stock show, which includes a horse show and one of the country's largest rodeos, has been a key place for the region's farmers and ranchers to showcase their livestock and seal deals down in the stock yards. Attendance this year was nearly 674,000, with people from 49 states and 44 foreign countries. The two-week show in January provides a big post-holiday economic boost for Denver, generating at least $80 million in benefits, according to economic studies. Grant, a former Republican legislator, had been working with DeGette on setting up an exhibition rodeo for conventioneers. He said they're still looking at organizing some kind of event. "The National Western Stock Show isn't partisan. It doesn't take sides," Grant said. "It's an opportunity to bring people of all different backgrounds, culture, races together. That's what the West is really about."

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS July 11, 2008 by Penny Parker From a business point of view, it makes cents for a Republican to do a DNC shirt How does a die-hard Republican end up designing a shirt for the Democratic National Convention? Business, pure business. So Rockmount Ranch Wear prez Steve Weil had no political pang of conscience when Congresswoman Diana DeGette ordered more than 300 signature snap-front shirts (at $80 a pop, paid for from her campaign chest) with the DNC logo for the members of the House of Representatives who will visit our fair city Aug. 25-28. "This is another way to show off Denver and the Rocky Mountain West to her colleagues who are coming in (for the DNC)," said Kristofer Eisenla, DeGette's press secretary. "She was very happy to support a local business, and she wanted to give her colleagues a memento to remember the convention that was held in her Congressional district." The long-sleeve Weil-designed shirt features a red body and sleeves with white zig-zag mountain tops on the chest and upper arm. The top part of the chest and shoulders are blue, with a golden sun rising over the mountains. And true to his Republican roots, Weil designed a shirt in honor of the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St.Paul as well. "The RNC has worn Rockmount shirts and hats at conventions for decades," said Weil, whose late father Jack B. Weil was once the secretary for the Colorado Republican Party. The RNC shirt has a red, white and blue fireworks motif. You can buy either shirt (without the political party logos) at the Rockmount Ranch Wear store, 1626 Wazee St., or online at orders@rockmount.com

EVANSVILLE COURIER PRESS:  107-year-old Denver Businessman still has memories of Evansville Midwest Roots: 107-year-old Denver businessman still has memories of Evansville By Dan Shaw / Courier Press staff writer — 464-7519 or shawd@courierpress.com Sunday, July 13, 2008 Jack A. Weil, second from left, stands with his son Jack B. Weil, left, grandson Steve Weil and great-grandson Colter Weil as they celebrate Papa Jack's 106th birthday on March 28, 2007. The city of Denver has changed the name of Wazee Street to Jack A. Weil Blvd. for every birthday since he turned 100. How many cowboys would bridle if they knew the modern Western shirt has its roots in so Midwestern a city as Evansville? But it has. Or so, at least, has its inventor, Jack A. Weil, who was born in Evansville in 1901. More than a century later, Jack Weil is the honorary chief executive officer of Rockmount Ranch Wear, a clothing manufacturer in downtown Denver famous for selling Western shirts with snap buttons. He introduced that innovation and others not long after he founded the company in 1946. Barry Gutierrez / Rocky Mountain News Jack A. Weil, owner and CEO of Rockmount Ranch Wear, puts on his hat as he leaves for the day from his desk at the company headquarters in Denver in March 2007. Weil started the company in 1948 and the name has become famous in the western wear industry. Jack Weil established the look of the modern Western shirt and his products have been sold throughout the world and worn by many celebrities, from Elvis to the stars of the movie "Brokeback Mountain." Though he found his success far away from Evansville, Jack Weil retains a fondness for the city he considers his home. "We were always arguing with Fort Wayne about who was the second largest city in the state," he said. "I don't know who ever won." He grew up in houses on Southeast First Street and Sixth Street and attended school on Mulberry Street. Among the prominent landmarks at the time were deJong's department store, the C&EI train station and Cook's Brewery. None exists now. Jack Weil said his memories reach back as far as World War I, when men were building barges at the Howell Yards along the Ohio River. Among other things, he can clearly recall the antipathy his family felt toward the Germans, a product as much of their history as of patriotism. Weil's father grew up in the Alsace region of France, which was invaded during the Franco-Prussian War. Rather than being impressed into the enemy army, he fled to the United States. Here he established himself in the cattle business, first in Mount Vernon, Ind., and then Evansville. Years later, a stranger came to the family's house to solicit money in support of the German cause in World War I. Jack Weil's mother grabbed a cattle prod and chased him away. It was a rare disturbance in an otherwise carefree existence. "Maybe my memory is such that I have put aside the unpleasant things that happened," he said. He got in little trouble because he knew that punishment would not be long in coming. "If I stepped out of line, the policemen would say I'll tell your mother," he said. "That set me straight right then and there. She was a disciplinarian." Jack Weil and his brother made money by delivering copies of the old Evansville Press newspaper. His mother had them give her a part of whatever they earned as a way to supplement the family's income. "My brother and I were the kings of the carriers," Jack Weil said. "We had a horse and buggy to deliver our papers and the rest were riding bicycles." Jack Weil managed to make enough money from that job and others to save some on the side. In the 1920s, he took $1,000 he had placed in the bank and moved to Chicago, becoming a salesman. It was the start of a journey that would take him to Pennsylvania, Tennessee — where he met the woman he would marry — and Denver. Since first leaving Evansville, Jack Weil has rarely come back. Steve Weil, his grandson and the president of Rockmount, said the last return visit was likely made in the 1940s, for the funeral of Jack Weil's father. His parents, brother and brother's wife are all buried in Rose Hill Cemetery. Despite the long absence, Jack Weil often talks about Evansville. "He refers to it all the time, whenever people come in here and are from Indiana," Steve Weil said. "He tells lots of people it's remarkable that a guy from Evansville did what he did." Jack Weil said he chooses to stay away rather than "be disappointed that none of my contemporaries are still around." In many interviews Jack Weil has been told he possesses an extraordinarily sharp memory for a man who has lived more than a century. "Who the hell is going to contradict me?" he answers.

f Thursday, July 10, 2008 dasfasdf Rockmount plaid western shirt (shirt No. 690), $78 at MAP in Provincetown, Mass.; Ray-Ban aviators, $129 at Bloomingdale’s. Rockmount's bandana print Western shirt No. 692 Photo: Dean Isidro for The New York Times By DAVID COLMAN Published: July 10, 2008 THE truism that fashion exists as much off the runways as on was deftly illustrated at the men’s wear shows in Paris last month. Michael Macko, the new fashion director of Details, was paying utmost attention to Raf Simons’s collection of avant-garde rompers when his eye strayed to the front row. There he saw the photographer J. D. Ferguson in elegant tropical-weight gray wool pants, cut off crudely above the knee....

Travel Denver, Colorado more than a conventional choice Host to the Democratic National Convention, Colorado's capital is a notable partying platform for delegate and non-delegate alike. By Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer June 04, 2008 Denver Greetings, superdelegates, standard delegates, compromised Floridians, miffed Michiganders, would-be VPs and all-access VIPs. As you and the other Democrats convene here Aug. 25 to formally choose a presidential candidate at last, you will be wined, dined, wooed, spun, schmoozed, queried, denounced and perhaps bamboozled by all manner of unreliable operatives, members of the press and, of course, one another. Don't trust those people. Trust me. For instance, if, over a welcome cocktail, one of the locals seems to be inviting you to partake in some Dazbog with Hickenlooper, your drink has not been drugged and this is not a Justice Department sting. Dazbog is a popular local coffee brand. John Hickenlooper is Denver's mayor. And Denver, for the record, is a city of 570,000 at the eastern edge of the Front Range. It's a mile high, as you may have heard. More to the point, it's the capital of Colorado, one of several Western states that leaned slightly right in 2004. Had they leaned slightly left, John Kerry would be in the White House. If I were a Democratic strategist, I would have put the party here too. Once you're here, you may encounter either a Dazbog or a Hickenlooper in LoHi or SoCo, which is what some people call the Lower Highlands and South-of-Colfax neighborhoods. Nearby lies LoDo, which stands for Lower Downtown. A word to those of you who backed presumptive nominee Barack Obama from the beginning: If a couple of burly Clinton people show up to bury the hatchet and offer you a free ride to the convention center on 14th Street, take evasive action. The Colorado Convention Center is a big, beautiful building in the heart of downtown, and Denver's taxpayers spent about $300 million to expand it four years ago -- but that's not where the party is. The delegate floor will be a few miles away at the Pepsi Center, which holds more seats and houses Denver's pro basketball and hockey teams (the Nuggets and the Avalanche, respectively). In fact, this convention could be a bit like those hockey games: Though hip-checking, high-sticking and nose-punching are officially discouraged, legions will be rooting for just that, and ratings may depend on it. excerpt                                                                                                                                                              That's why our itinerary includes two final stops, beginning with Rockmount Ranch Wear, outfitters of cowboys (and the politicians, actors and rock stars who admire them) since 1946. Step through the door at 1626 Wazee St. between 8 a.m. and noon on a weekday and you're likely to be greeted by the chief executive, Jack A. Weil, the man who created snap-button shirts and sawtooth pockets on Western shirts. On March 27 Weil celebrated his 107th birthday. Yet since Rockmount opened its retail space in 2005, he has sat up front, chatting up browsers and offering candy to their children. Behind his chair hangs a congratulatory note to Weil (a longtime Republican) from President Bush on his 105th birthday. His advice for the conventioneers: "I think a guy should be a Democrat until he makes a little money," he told me. "And then, if he wants to save it, he should become a Republican."

Denver Post: Clothier Salute Steals Show The Denver Post May 23, 2008 Clothier salute steals Curious show By Bill Husted The Curious Theatre Company presented four short plays Wednesday night — each a 15-minute salute to a formidable Denverite. The fantastic four were political powerhouse Elbra Wedgeworth, 107-year-old Rockmount Ranch Wear CEO Papa Jack Weil, Denver Art Museum CEO Lewis Sharp and Cuba Cuba restaurant owner Kristy Socarras Bigelow. The standout play was for Papa Jack, who sat in the front row with grandson Steve Weil. Playwright Steven Cole Hughes created 107 really short plays, racing through Papa Jack's life. It was touching, humble, funny and smart. And Michael Morgan as Weil was a wonder, capturing the legend's gentle ways, humor and posture. The best lines from Papa Jack in the play: "People say I have an amazing memory for a man my age. And I say, 'Who the heck is going to contradict me?' " On Wal-Mart's Sam Walton, not much to say, "other than he was a hillbilly (SOB)." And what about all the pretty girls who come into the store these days to kiss him and pose with him for pictures? "Where were you girls when I was your age?" Said Steve, "My grandfather is a hard act to replicate, and they did it very sensitively. I was very impressed." So were we all.

Rocky Mountain News 'Papa Jack's tale steals the show at third annual 'Denver Stories' - 5/23/08

Time Magazine features Rockmount shirt No. 6799-Beer April 21, 2008

Rocky Mountain News PARKER: Weil, 107, to get Curious vetting By Penny Parker Tuesday, March 18, 2008     Jack A. Weil, left, and Chip Walton, above. Don't expect to see a 107-year-old actor portraying Rockmount Ranch Wear founder Jack A. Weil in this year's Denver Stories, the third annual fundraiser for Curious Theatre Co. Curious honcho Chip Walton is pretty sure an actor that age doesn't exist. Instead, Walton will likely cast a middle-aged actor and let him tell snippets in the long life of America's oldest CEO. "The challenge with him will be how to tell 107 years of his story in 10 to 15 minutes," Walton said about this year's collection of vignettes that will include life stories of former City Council President Elbra Wedgeworth, Denver Art Museum CEO Lewis Sharp and Cuba Cuba restaurant owner Kristy Socarras Bigelow. For two years, Denver Stories has celebrated the lives of local characters who have helped shape our city. Bigelow, a first- generation Cuban-American, was chosen because she's not only a Curious supporter, but the play needs to include a restaurateur willing to cater the preshow party. Wedgeworth was tapped for the play because of her pivotal part in the upcoming Democratic National Convention and her efforts to land the convention here. "Elbra was a no-brainer," Walton said. "She's been such a big part of Denver politics for so long." Walton said Sharp's story will give a nod to the man who oversaw the addition of the Hamilton Building to the Denver Art Museum. "The story of the Hamilton wing has been at the forefront of our community for the past couple of years," Walton said. Tickets start at $100 per person; VIP box seats are $2,500. More info: curioustheatre.org or the box office, 303-623-0524. EAVESDROPPING on a woman at Paul Garcia's salon talking to someone in Hawaii: "I don't need any macadamia nuts. I may as well tape them to my butt." Penny Parker's column appears Tuesday through Saturday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail parkerp@RockyMoun tainNews.com.

The Denver Post  March 18, 2008 Curious about 4 significant Denverites? See "Stories" By Bill Husted   Curious Theatre is gearing up to present its third installment of "Denver Stories," a night of four original 10-minute plays celebrating the lives of celebrated Denverites. On May 21, Curious will give you its take on political powerhouse Elbra Wedgeworth; Denver Art Museum CEO Lewis Sharp; Cuba Cuba restaurant owner Kristy Socarras Bigelow; and soon-to-be-107-year- old CEO of Rockmount Ranch Wear Jack A. Weil. How are they gonna squeeze 107 years of living into 10 minutes? That's their problem. Past honorees include Judi Wolf, Bob Garner, Patty Calhoun, Mel & Janie Master, Ellen Hart and Holly Kylberg.You don't say. Former Denver deejay Jo Myers knows a lot about death and dying. Last year she wrote "Good to Go," a book that addressed what to do when a loved one buys the big one. Tonight at 7 she gathers interested parties to the Heartlight Center at 11150 E. Dartmouth Ave. (on the Horan & McConaty campus) to discuss what NOT to say to a person in mourning. "People want to say something comforting," Myers explains, "but they just don't know what to say, so they end up saying something ridiculous." Faux pas in the funeral home include: "I know how you feel," "You know you don't have any family now," "This music is a downer," "You'll be fine," "Mind if I take a picture?" And here's my advice: "Don't hit on the widow." Pass the water. I am not exactly green. My carbon footprint puts Sasquatch to shame. But there is one cause I can champion. Stop drinking bottled water. It's probably the most wasteful thing we do. Today through Saturday marks the Tap Project. You pay $1 for tap water in some Denver restaurants, and they donate it to UNICEF to get clean water to people. It might put a cork in these dismal stats: One billion people have no access to clean drinking water. A child dies every 15 seconds of a water-borne disease. You can donate $1 for your glass of tap water this week at hundreds of Colorado restaurants. Check it out at tapproject.com. Here's a roster of a few restaurants on board: 1515, Agave, Carmine's, Dazzle, Frasca, Hapa, Jax, Lola, Mel's, Osteria Marco, Zolo, West End Tavern, Greenbriar and Dish. Sez who: "The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it." Ernest Hemingway

Click here to listen Morning Edition, April 27, 2007 · The man believed to be the country's oldest chief executive officer of a company is 106. Jack Weil goes to work every day at Rockmount Ranch Wear, the western clothing apparel company he founded in 1946. Customers flock to the store's headquarters in Denver for more than just rodeo wear. They want to spend time with the man called "Papa Jack." From member station KUNC in Greeley, Colo., Nancy Greenleese reports.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS PARKER: Annual tip of the hat to a true son of St. Pat aBy Penny Parker, Thursday, March 13, 2008 Cathy Kruzic / Special to the RockyMayor John Hickenlooper, with Jack A. Weil, reads a proclamation Long-gone Denver DA Dale Tooley had a long-standing tradition of meeting at McCormick's with Judges Jim Carrigan and John Kane and (now Auditor) Dennis Gallagher to hoist a few and sing Irish tunes on St. Patrick's Day. In his last year on Earth, Tooley served as grand marshal of the St. Patrick's Day parade on March 17, 1985, and died on April 1 - "on purpose because it was April Fools' Day," said his son, Keith, who with his brother, Patrick, attended for the first time the annual sign-changing of Wazee Street to Tooley Street in front of McCormick's in LoDo on Wednesday. "He'd love it," Keith said of his dad during the ceremony where Mayor John Hickenlooper and Rockmount Ranch Wear founder Jack A. Weil unveiled the Tooley Street sign that will stay up for a week. The Tooley boys - all lawyers, including Brian who was missing from the ceremony - hold a party on St. Patrick's Day where guests are required to make their first drink a Guinness - in honor of their dad. This year's sign-changing ceremony was particularly poignant because Jack B. Weil, son of Jack A. and father of Steve Weil, was not there. He died in January from esophageal cancer. Mayor Hick, sporting a shamrock bowtie, dedicated a part of his proclamation to Jack B. "This year we also honor our beloved friend, who was most Irish of heart and soul, if not heritage, Jack B. Weil. May the day of March 12, 2008, also be known forever as Jack B. Weil Day so that we may always remember his kindness, creativity and dedication to family, which are most definitely recognized as virtues of the Irish. THE SEEN: Some of Irish descent, and some wannabes, at the Tooley Street sign-changing ceremony were Colorado Restaurant Association big cheese Pete Meersman, City Councilman Charlie Brown, Volunteers of America honcho Jim White, former Denver's 7 consumer champ and Rocky contributor Bill Clarke, Westword editor Patty Calhoun, Luxe salon owner Laurie Helmich, St. Patrick's Day Parade Grand Marshal Pat McCullough and assorted green-jacketed leprechauns. EAVESDROPPING on two men at the sign-changing: "It's good to see you somewhere other than a funeral." Penny Parker's column appears Tuesday through Saturday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail parkerp@RockyMoun tainNews.com.

Jack Weil Industry Tribute, Tack 'N Togs trade magazine, March 2008 Clcik here for the PDF download

Rocky Mountain News By Penny Parker, Thursday, January 24, 2008 JACK B: Steve Weil, Rockmount Ranch Wear's third generation, called me last year to tell me his dad, Jack B. Weil, had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He wanted to share the news with me since I'm a cancer survivor, but, more important, he wanted to keep the news out of the paper to respect his dad's privacy. I happily obliged. But I didn't know just how sick Jack B. was. The news of his death Tuesday made me realize how quickly the cancer caught this gentle man. My deepest condolences go out to his son, Steve, and his 106-year-old father, Jack A. Weil, founder of the western wear company. The annual sign-changing at the corner of 17th and Wazee won't be the same without Jack B., who typically arrived with his dad and son in tow for the invite-only St. Patrick's Day celebration lunch at McCormick's following the ceremony. He will be missed.

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS Jan. 28, 2008 WESTERN COLORS:  CITIZEN OF THE WEST DINNER Best Dressed:  Mayor John Hickenlooper wearing Rockmount's Denver Shirt. Colorado state Sen. Peter Groff (left), Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and guest of honor Hank Brown, 2008 Citizen of the West award winner.   Hank Brown is president of the University of Colorado and former US Senator.

Western wear innovator Jack B. dies Second-generation Denver businessman helped bring Rockmount Ranch Wear's signature shirts to Hollywood. By Amy Haimerl January 23 2008: 3:00 PM EST If there is a heart to the city of Denver, it is the Weil family. Two years ago, Mayor John Hickenlooper even named a street named after the patriarch, Jack A. Weil, who at 106 still heads to work every morning at Rockmount Ranch Wear, the company he founded in 1946. But on Tues., Jan. 22, Denver and the Weils lost a favorite son and veteran Rockmount executive: Jack B. Weil, son of Jack A., passed away at age 79 from esophageal cancer. Weil joined his father's company in the 1954, after graduating from Tulane University and serving in the Army. Once back in Denver, he never left the family business, which is credited with creating the snap-front Western shirt and popularizing the look. "I always said snaps were safer for a rider on a horse," Jack A. told Cowboys & Indians magazine in June 2006. "If a buttonhole got caught on a bull's horn, a rider could get dragged. Not so with a snap shirt, which could come right off." Practicality aside, Hollywood fell for the look and came calling on the company often --Ronald Reagan, James Garner, Elvis, Clark Gable have all worn Rockmount. Jack B. was responsible for the snap-downs John Travolta wore in his 1980 movie Urban Cowboy. And, of course, the now-famous shirts worn in Brokeback Mountain by Jack Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger (who also passed away on Jan. 22) were from Rockmount. Six decades after Jack A. finally convinced New York City snap manufacturers to sell to him - they didn't share his vision and were hesitant to be suppliers - Rockmount Ranch Wear's home in downtown Denver is still a must-stop for every celebrity coming through town: The Killers, Vince Gill, David Bowie, John Fogerty and Dwight Yoakam have all made the pilgrimage. The five-story building, erected in 1908, is packed floor to ceiling, clothes, bolo ties, belts and heaps of memorabilia, from a giant blow-up of Bruce Springsteen on the cover of Esquire in Rockmount attire to photos of celebs showing off their Western duds. In addition to his duties as vice president of Rockmount, Jack B. was an avid collector of modern art and an artist in his own right. Last month he had a solo show of his abstract paintings, Reflections on a Life Lived, at the Berkeley Park Art Gallery in north Denver. "My father was a contrarian and a very eclectic personality," Jack B.'s son, Steve, told the Rocky Mountain News yesterday. "In the 1990s he was secretary of the Colorado Republican Party, but his art was influenced by people like Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock and (Joan) Miro. There was nothing straight and narrow about him." Rockmount will continue to be led by Jack A., CEO, and Steve, President in the family business.

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS Wednesday, January 23, 2008 Jack Weil the Younger dies at 79 By Bill Gallo , Special to the Rocky Weil exhibited 20 of his paintings just last month.  Jack B. Weil was a businessman with a gift for art - and an artist with a head for business. An accomplished abstract impressionist painter who also designed the Western shirts for John Travolta in the film Urban Cowboy, Mr. Weil spent over 50 years as a major force at Rockmount Ranch Wear. The Denver company was founded by his iconic father, Jack A. Weil, "Papa Jack," who survives him at age 106. Jack Weil the Younger died Tuesday at his Capitol Hill home after an 8-month battle with esophageal cancer. He was 79. Services will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at the First Universalist Church, 4101 E. Hampden Ave. "My father was a contrarian and a very eclectic personality," said his son, Rockmount President Steve Weil. "In the 1990s he was secretary of the Colorado Republican Party, but his art was influenced by people like Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock and (Joan) Miro. There was nothing straight and narrow about him." Mr. Weil was born Nov. 13, 1928, in Denver's Mercy Hospital and lived here all his life, save for a stint as an Army second lieutenant in Virginia and his studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, from which he graduated in 1952. Twice married and divorced, he had been single since the 1980s. In the 1960s, a family rabbi characterized him as a Unitarian; he promptly joined the First Universalist Church. Jack B. joined Rockmount in 1954 and worked with his father for half a century, often hurdling generational disputes. He is credited with expanding the company's reach to the Eastern states. Rockmount shirts have been worn by Bob Dylan, President Reagan, Elvis Presley and Robert Redford, among others. They were also worn by the two leading men of the popular movie Brokeback Mountain. By coincidence, Brokeback star Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday. Mr. Weil's most recent exhibition was a 20-canvas show last month at the Berkeley Gallery. In the 1960s, the Denver Art Museum hung one of his forward-looking collages. A lifelong supporter of public higher education, he recently served as chairman of the Foundation for Community College of Denver. Because of his illness, he retired from Rockmount five months ago. "He lived for his buying trips to New York," his son said. "He would buy piece goods - fabric - but he would also visit all the museums and galleries to see the latest art." Aside from his 106-year-old father, Mr. Weil is survived by his son, Steve, and a daughter, Judy Oksner, both of Denver; a sister, Jane Romberg, of Steamboat Springs; and three grandchildren.

The Denver Post Wednesday, January 23, 2008 Painting sustained Rockmount executive Weil, 79 by Dana Coffield Art collector, politician and clothing maker Jack B. Weil, credited with spreading the gospel of the Rockmount Ranch Wear snap-front shirt east from Denver, died Tuesday at home. He was 79. He was diagnosed with esophageal cancer during a routine physical in May. During his illness, Weil talked business daily with his son, Steven Weil, and his father, Jack A. Weil, as they worked at their Lower Downtown manufacturing company and store, but it was painting that sustained him through difficult treatments. He began painting in the 1960s and studied art at Metropolitan State College. On business trips to New York, he visited museums and was inspired by the work of contemporary abstract painters. Back home, he developed his own abstract style, covering canvases with evocative swirls and smears of acrylics. Faced with his own end, Weil had two goals, his son said: The first was to see the Navy ship USS Mesa Verde commissioned, which occurred in December in Panama City, Fla.; the second was to have a one-man show of his work, which also occurred in December, at the Berkeley Park Art Gallery in northwest Denver. "He loved to share the art he bought and the art he created himself," said Betty Arca, who exhibited 40 of Weil's paintings at her gallery. "He felt his art passionately. It was his way of communicating. And for the last year, he painted prolifically." Weil was born Nov. 13, 1928, in Denver. He attended the University of Colorado and graduated from Tulane University in 1952. He joined the U.S. Army, and after two years of service, he returned to Denver to join his father's Western-wear manufacturing company at the urging of his mother, Bea, who told him: "You know, your father is not getting any younger." Although he was trained as an artist, he was limited to "designing the Rockmount line in his head" until Jack A. Weil finally handed over the design department. Over a 30-year period, Jack B. Weil created some of Rockmount's most iconic designs, including the shirt John Travolta wore in the movie "Urban Cowboy." He also was firmly woven into his community. A lifelong Republican, he served as GOP party secretary in the 1990s and was a delegate to several Republican National Conventions. But Steven Weil says his father would not be cast into the mold of classic conservative, serving, for example, on the board of Colorado Republicans for Choice. He also was involved in education, serving as chairman of the Foundation for the Community College of Denver. Historic preservation was another interest, and he lived for 35 years in a home near Cheesman Park that he bought purely for aesthetic reasons. "I think my father was passionate. When he liked something or someone, there were no limits to that feeling," Steven Weil said. Steven Weil said that although his father had a tough couple of months at the end, he felt he had lived a good life. "He said to us, very clearly: 'You know, whatever happens is going to happen. I have no regrets,' " his son said. Single for many years, Weil was married twice. In addition to his son and father, who is 106, Weil is survived by his daughter, Judy Oksner of Denver; a sister, Jane Romberg of Steamboat Springs; and three grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at First Universalist Church of Denver, 4101 E. Hampden Ave. Denver Post staff writer Suzanne S. Brown contributed to this report.

THE DENVER POST Jan. 7, 2008 Western Dress Suits Everyone By William Porter Denver Post Columnist Late Friday morning, and Geary Sheridan was fresh off a plane from Southern California. It was Vail or bust. But first: Hit the trail to Rockmount Ranch Wear, the venerable Western outfitter at 1626 Wazee St. When I crossed paths with Sheridan, he was trying on a cream- colored shirt with purple piping and embroidered flowers at the shoulders. So how many cowboy shirts does a guy with a Malibu Beach address need? "Well, I was thinking about three," Sheridan said. "But I think I'll wind up with seven." This is how it is in January at Rockmount, thanks to the happy-trails confluence of ski season and the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo, which opens Saturday. Everyone gets to channel their inner cowpoke. You get rough-stock cowboys needing buckskin gloves and hats that soon will be stained with sweat. And you get pilgrims from out East who wonder why horseshoes don't have shoelaces. But they pine for a pair of hand-tooled boots. Chamber of commerce-types tear their hair out to convince people that Denver is a cosmopolitan city, not a cow town. Sorry, but at Rockmount, the bandanna still dry-gulches the power tie. "It's part of our legacy in the West," said Steve Weil. "The reason this has endured is that we manufacture these shirts as part of a lifestyle, not as a costume." At 50 he is president and designer at the store, which his granddad Jack — still CEO at age 106 — opened in 1946. Walk Rockmount's aisles, and it's like a cross between a bunkhouse and the wardrobe room for a Broadway show. Say, "Shane: The Musical." Some clothes are made for bona-fide ranch hands, such as roper-style boots destined to be caked in stable muck. Then there are duds so fancy they would make Roy Rogers look like a broken-down saddle tramp. If you can pony up $1,100 for the caiman-skin Lucchese boots, all the better. Pam Wilson of Fort Collins took a day off to look at shirts and skirts. She's never been on a horse in her life, but she's a big rodeo fan. "I just like the style and the heritage," she said of the clothes. "And I think the cut is flattering." She eyed a yellow shirt embroidered with green cactuses and wagon wheels. "I wonder if a cowboy would like this." Mike and Kathy Wrage flew in from Tampa, Fla., for some ski days in Steamboat Springs with their kids. He sported a denim shirt with flap pockets and Rockmount's trademark diamond-shaped snap buttons. I asked him about its appeal. "A shirt like this just has authenticity," Mike said. "Some are more drugstore cowboy, but this is just a good working shirt." Truth be told, he's not one of those Floridians who can't be pried out of shorts and sandals with a crowbar. He's a native Cornhusker whose forebears homesteaded in Cherry County, Neb. "God's own cattle country," Mike said. And these days? He grinned. "I'm all hat and no cattle." His wife, Kathy, checked out a rack of fancy shirts. "I think the cool thing is that now you don't have to live in the West to wear this." As Jack Weil once said, there's no Westerner like an Easterner. William Porter's column appears twice a week. Reach him at 303-954-1977 or wporter@denverpost.com.

Retail sign returns to owner 50 years later Published in the Coon Rapids Enterprise, Iowa December 20, 2007 by Charlie Nixon

CNBC  -  December 5, 2007 "Sam Walton Was A Hillbilly" Posted By:Mike Hegedus How many of you have ever met Levi Strauss? How about J.C. Penney, the man, not the store? Did you ever call Sam Walton a "hillbilly" and an "s.o.b." in print? The answer of course is, no. But "Papa Jack" Weil has done all three and lived to tell about it. He's lived 106 years. "I guess I was just lucky. Better that than smart." "Papa Jack" is talking about his career in fashion. Yes, fashion. He's the man who invented one of the great American iconic pieces of clothing. The snap front Western shirt. "He says he made it so cowboys couldn't get hung up on their saddles. I think it was a success because cowboys didn't like, or know how, to sew on buttons." That's his grandson Steve Weil explaining the business to me while we walk around the company store in downtown Denver. Rockmount Ranch Wear is the name of the company. It was founded in 1946 and what Jack Weil did was catch on to the culture of the times. The late 30's and the 40's were the heyday of the American western movie. Tom Mix, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, John Wayne, all names of movie stars of the day. All at one time wore a Rockmount shirt designed by Jack Weil. "I can't believe what he did," Steve Weil says as we look down from the balcony overlooking the store. Jack is in an animated conversation with someone who has walked in. Yes, animated at 106. Yes, he uses a computer. "I consider him to be the Henry Ford of western fashion. He designed it, manufactured it and sold it," Steve, now the CEO, says with a smile. It is Rockmount's signature Diamond snap and sawtooth pocket that sets it apart, that, and the designs on the more elaborate offerings. Steve designs them now, his grandfather did all the originals. Western styles come and go across the fashion spectrum, but Rockmount has never wavered. That's why the younger Weil believes they've managed to stay in business all these years. Delivering a unique product, of high quality, with customer service. Of course exposure doesn't hurt, nor does an internet presence. "I picked up the phone the other day and it was Eric Clapton. Eric Clapton! He wouldn't have found us before the internet," Steve says. Bob Dylan was in two weeks ago, and Bruce Springsteen wears Rockmount shirts. "It's a style, a cut, that appeals to the young kid on a skateboard, and to his grandfather," Steve Weil believes that's another reason Rockmount, which has just this one retail store, and sells mostly wholesale around the world, is so successful in 2007. That an maybe a good dose of "Papa Jack's" spirit. "See that article on the easel over there? Read the part next to the bold print. Go ahead, read it out loud," he's laughing under his breath. It's an article from the London Times in which he says Levi Strauss was a nice fella, but got too big for his britches, and that Sam Walton was nothing but an "s.o.b" and "a hillbilly". "I didn't actually hear him say it, but I wouldn't doubt it," says his grandson. Neither would I. Jack will be 107 in March. You can see 'Mike On America' segments on CNBC's "Power Lunch," Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. You can catch us in person along the road. I'll be the one in a Western shirt.

Rocky Mountain News Thursday, November 29, 2007 By Penny Parker JACK B.'S TURN TO BOW: Readers of this column are used to seeing snippets about Jack A. Weil, the 106-year-old patriarch of Rockmount Ranch Wear, the LoDo-based snap-front Western shirt manufacturer. Even grandson Steve Weil appears in this space often. But Jack B. Weil, the 79-year-old son of Jack A. and father of Steve, is the stealth Weil, mostly staying out of the limelight that's cast upon his dad and son. But beginning next month, it's Jack B.'s turn to shine when Reflections on a Life Lived, a collection of 30 paintings created by the middle Weil go on display at the Berkeley Park Art Gallery, 4999 W. 44th Ave. in north Denver. The pieces are a result of two years' toil. Opening receptions will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 6; from 6 to 10 p.m. Dec. 7; from 1 to 4 p.m. Dec. 8. Jack B. will discuss his work at the last two receptions. The show continues 1 to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through December.

The Denver Post November 16, 2007 Where to find 106-year-old? Wear else?! By Bill Husted AOL's home page Thursday featured the full-color mug of the oldest CEO in Denver and maybe America, Jack Weil at Rockmount Ranch Wear. It linked to a story slugged "Why Eight CEOs Won't Stop," profiling eight men and women over 80 who still go to work. But Weil is 106. The rest of the gang are a bunch of whippersnappers, ages 80-89. Kids! The story reports that even though Weil's son, Jack B., is retired and grandson Steve is president of Rockmount, Grandpa Jack has no intention of quitting. "What the %&$# else would I do?" he asks.

MSN.COM, AOL.COM, & Inc.COM This appeared world-wide on the opening pages of MSN.COM December 26, 2007, AOL.COM & INC.COM November 15, 2007 The Centenarian Cowboy Jack Weil's clothing company, Rockmount Ranch Wear, was made popular by the likes of Clark Gable, Elvis, and other celebrities. Today, Weil still keeps the customers coming in droves. Oh, did we mention he's 106? Meet the oldest entrepreneur in America. By: Tamara Schweitzer Published November 2007 Every morning, Jack Weil greets his customers from a desk set up at the front of Rockmount Ranch Wear's flagship store in Denver. He doesn't let anyone pass him by without first asking where they are from. It's a typical routine for many entrepreneurs in the retail world -- except, at 106 years old, Jack Weil is far from the typical entrepreneur. After more than 60 years with Rockmount, the wholesale western wear business he founded in 1946, Weil still delights at the universal fascination with the West and almost can't believe the distance that customers will travel for the Rockmount brand. "The surprising thing is the number of people that come into our place from all over the world," Weil says. "There's something about cowboys, I guess." More than a century old, Weil is somewhat of a celebrity in Denver. Indeed, he is widely believed to be the oldest CEO in the United States. Throughout his years, Weil has overseen the growth of Rockmount from a modest wholesale business that marketed to cowboys in the Western United States, to a recognizable international brand, and a timeless staple of the American fashion industry. Rockmount shirts have been worn by countless celebrities and musicians dating back to Elvis Presley and Clark Gable, and spanning the decades with Ronald Reagan, and even the modern-day Indie rock band, The Killers. Rockmount apparel has also long-been immortalized on the big screen, and most notably was used to outfit the actors in the 2005 Academy Award-winning movie, Brokeback Mountain. Yet despite the company's growth and continued popularity, Weil maintains that it is the devotion to individuality that makes Rockmount so unique. Weil claims to have been the first to design western shirts with snaps, instead of buttons -- for a more practical, but also more flattering look -- and he was also the first to commercially produce bolo ties. According to company lore, Rockmount's signature look -- the saw-toothed pocket and diamond snaps -- is the longest-running shirt design in the nation. For Weil, much of the company's authenticity is rooted in its history as a family business. At one point, Rockmount was a three-generation business. Weil's son, Jack B, joined the company in the 1950s and helped bring Western fashions to the eastern United States, and his grandson Steve arrived in the 1980s and worked to expand the company internationally. These days, Steve Weil acts as the company president, while Grandpa Jack is content to handle the accounts receivable and spend his mornings in the store sharing personal stories with customers. One of his favorite things to talk about is his granddaughter's dog, whom they named Rocky, after Rockmount Ranch Wear. Weil's son has already retired from the business, but his centenarian father has no plans to do the same. Asks Weil, "What the hell else would I do?"

CHICAGO DAILY HERALD FEATURES ROCKMOUNT DEALER RICH ALCALA, AlCALA'S WESTERN WEAR, CHICAGO in Rockmount shirt #6703.

The Denver Post October 11, 2007 by Bill Husted Boss of shirts. These are heady days for Rockmount Ranch Wear president Steve Weil. He turns 50 with a party at the Cactus Club on Oct. 20. The wardrobe coordinator for Eddie Murphy's movie "NowhereLand" keeps buying up Rockmount shirts to dress Thomas Haden Church and Bruce McGill. But Weil was blown away Sunday night watching "60 Minutes." Reporter Scott Pelley conducted a long interview with Bruce Springsteen - and Pelley was wearing a denim Rockmount shirt! No. 6790-D in fact. Weil was able to contact Pelley. "I've been buying Rockmount shirts from the Denver store for many years," Pelley wrote back to Weil. "I have a wardrobe of them. Jane (Pelley) wants me to throw the ones out with holes in them but I refuse. I often give Rockmount Ranch Wear as gifts." Rockmount Ranch Wear president Steve Weil and wife Wendy at a 2003 event. (Post / Hyoung Chang)

Rockmount in the Australian press Sydney Sun Herald Sunday 7/10/2007 Travel Section, pg. 22 Living the high life in Denver The gateway to Colorado's ski fields has plenty of attractions by Debbie Hunter LIKE NUMEROUS old gold mining towns in the picturesque US state of Colorado, the city of Denver has seen plenty of legends come and go. Not surprisingly, there are some who take their time leaving what both visitors and locals regard as God's own country. One of them is Jack Weil, or "Papa Jack" as he is referred to by friends. Originally from Chicago, the 106-year-old can still be found behind the counter of the mega-successful Rockmount Ranch Wear store he established 60 years ago on the downtown Denver street (formerly Wazee) renamed in his honour earlier this year. Apart from going into the record books as the oldest working CEO, Papa Jack's biggest claim to fame is the snap-button western shirt. The check shirts with their signature broad yokes, sawtooth pockets and diamond snap buttons are a favourite with real-life cowboys used to threading a lasso around the legs of a heifer rather than cotton through the eye of a needle.  They've graced the shoulders of some of the biggest names in showbiz, from Elvis to Eric Clapton. On screen, the slim-fitting shirts priced from $63 have been worn by Urban Cowboy John Travolta, Robert Redford in The Horse Whisperer and, more recently, Heath Ledger in Broke back Mountain. Co-run by Jack's grandson Steve, the store has expanded its range to include boots, hats, skirts, scarves and even children's wear. Rockmount remains one of the few brands still made in the US, exporting worldwide including to Australia, but a visit here is more than just a place to indulge in some retail therapy. It's become a living museum where the walls are filled with memorabilia - from press clippings to celebrity photos. It's worth your while to engage Jack in conversation, too. He has ripper yarns he's always keen to share. You'll find Rockmount in one of the city's oldest timber-and-brick neighbourhoods, an area known as LoDo (Lower Downtown). The district, once rundown, is now vibrant, thanks to stylish new pubs, restaurants, wine and sports bars, art galleries and clothing stores.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS October 6, 2007 by Penny Parker Eddie Murphy's posse keeps stores ka-chinging   Local merchants are lapping up the new movie money that's ringing cash registers around town during the shooting of the Eddie Murphy film NowhereLand this week and next. Steve Weil, president of Rockmount Ranch Wear, is used to selling his company's signature snap-front shirts to movie stars and crew (he sold a barrel full to the costume folks for Brokeback Mountain), but a saddle? Darn tootin'. NowhereLand set designer David Smith sidled up to a hand-tooled saddle that was part of Rockmount's decor and made Weil an offer. "He wanted it for Eddie Murphy's office scene," Weil said. "I bought that saddle when I was 13 with my paper-route money." Weil offered to rent it to the designer, but when Smith flashed big bucks, Weil decided to sweep sentimentality out the door. "This makes up for having the streets blocked (Wazee and 17th Avenue) on Wednesday and Thursday," he said. Jack Lima, owner of Native American Trading Co. on 13th and Bannock, said the movie's props peeps have been by a couple of times to snap up his wares. "They bought a beaded headdress for (co-star) Thomas Hayden Church, a Navajo blanket and some other things," Lima said. SIMMS SLAMMED: Phil "Mr. No-Show" Simms took it on the chin several times during the presentation at Men For the Cure, the eighth annual breast cancer charity event at Invesco Field Thursday night. Simms, the CBS' NFL analyst and former Giants quarterback, left word Sept. 28 that he "couldn't make it" to the event on Thursday after he had been booked for months. Needless to say, event organizers were less than pleased. "We understand that Phil Simms had a problem with those dog-fighting charges," (ouch!) emcee and CBS 4 weatherman Ed Greene said, but he didn't stop there. "The guy (did us wrong) twice, once at the Super Bowl (when the Giants defeated the Broncos), and once tonight." Dave Dravecky, the former Padres pitcher, who pinch-hit for Simms, started his speech by asking, "Who's Phil Simms?" Simms aside, the evening attracted nearly 700 men who managed to tip the eight-year collection total to $1 million. Sharon Magness Blake, who co-founded the event with Greene and Jeff Thompson, was serenaded with Happy Birthday by the crowd led by country singer Lee Greenwood, who performed three songs including his signature God Bless the USA. GLASSES GATHERER: If Chuck Morris were an NFL quarterback, this would have been his Super Bowl. But Morris, the concert promoter, would rather score glasses than points in the end zone. On Thursday, Morris said he was "in heaven" as the guest of Jeff Breslaw, owner of One-Hour Optical, at the International Vision Expo in Las Vegas. "I would say besides my family first, the music business second, my third favorite thing in the world is glasses," said the man who owns roughly 40 pairs. "People in the office were worried that I would spend the family fortune they think I have or die of a heart attack from the excitement. I did neither." He did, however, snag five pair of new specs at the show. THE SEEN: Heisman-Trophy-winning running back and Tennessee Titans stand-out Eddie George lunching at ESPN Zone Thursday after the Rockies defeated the Phillies in Game 2 of the National League Division Series. According to my spy, when a fan asked George if he was cheering for the Rockies, he said he is from Philadelphia and a big Phillies fan. More Murphy: Actor Murphy spotted in an elevator in The Brown Palace Thursday. SURGERY: I haven't been completely honest when so many of you kind people have asked about my health recently. I'm still cancer free, but a routine MRI July 3 detected some sketchy stuff in my other breast - the one that hadn't been treated for breast cancer last year. The radiologist described the minor mass as "atypical" cells - ones that could or could not become cancerous. So, the solution is to take them out through surgery scheduled Monday morning. The procedure will be much like the lumpectomy I had before, but less invasive because they aren't taking out any lymphnodes. I ran into my former radiologist Dr. Steve Parker at a black-tie event earlier this week (he went and retired on me, the rat!), and when I told him what was going on, he described the procedure as a "minor excision. This will truly be a 'ditzelectomy'," he said. So, I'll be out next week, but would love to hear from you via e-mail. You'll need to let me know what's happening "On the Town." EAVESDROPPING on a man talking about Sunday's Rapids, Avalanche, Broncos and Rockies games and Race for the Cure: "Sunday would be a very good day to be operating a parking lot." Penny Parker's column appears Tuesday through Saturday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail parkerp@RockyMountainNews.com.

Bruce Springsteen 60 Minutes Interview with Scott Pelley.  Scott is wearing Rockmount shirt No. 6790-D.  Click here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/04/60minutes/main3330463.shtml Bruce Springsteen was interviewed on 60 Minutes by Scott Pelley on Sunday Oct. 7, 2007.  Scott is wearing Rockmount shirt No. 6790-D.   Steve Weil wrote Steve Hartman of CBS Evening News to contact Scott Pelley.  It turns out Scott Pelley is a longtime Rockmount fan.  Here is the correspondence. From: Hartman, Steve To: Pelley, Scott Sent: Mon Oct 08 17:14:58 2007 Subject: Shirt Not long ago I did a story about the country's oldest working CEO -- 103-yrs! He started a company called Rockmount and basically invented the western shirt as we know it. Last night with Bruce (great story by the way) you were wearing one of his designs. His grandson called with 2 requests. 1) Where did you get it? 2) Can they get a digital screen grab for their website. He tells me you'd be pictured with the likes of Clapton and Elvis. Steve Hartman --------------------- From: Pelley, Scott To: Hartman, Steve Sent: Mon Oct 08 17:25:56 2007 Subject: Re: Shirt Steve I'd be delighted. I've been buying Rockmount shirts from the Denver store for many years. I have a wardrobe of them. Jane wants me to throw out the ones with holes in them but I refuse... I often give Rockmount Ranch Wear as gifts.   Send me the e-mail address and I'll send the grab. All best, Scott  -- Bruce Springsteen on 60 Minutes, Oct. 7, 2007

The Weils & Rockmount featured as Colorado travel destination in German paper:  Munchner Merkur Sept. 8, 2007

The Rocky Mountain News By Stuart Steers and Kevin Vaughn August 25, 2007 Steve Weil President, Rockmount Ranch Wear Rockmount is the undisputed LoDo headquarters for all things Western, from cowboy hats to rattlesnake belts, and Democrats from ranch-deprived places such as New York and Chicago can be expected to make a pit stop at this Denver institution. The company is working with Mayor John Hickenlooper to come up with commemorative items. "We probably have 5,000 cowboy hats and 20,000 shirts (in storage) at any given time," Weil said. Weil vows not to count on selling huge amounts of merchandise during the convention. He remembers his grandfather, Jack, telling him about an Elks convention in the 1930s that brought thousands of people to town. The Denver Dry Goods store stocked hundreds of Rockmount hats, expecting a rush. "10,000 Elks came and left, and the hats stayed on the shelf," Weil said. Brook Colangelo Director of technology, DNC Committee Colangelo is 29 and could pass for a college sophomore, but he has one of the biggest jobs around for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. That's because he signed up for the task of building a technology infrastructure that works for everyone: candidates, delegates,staffers, reporters. He's the guy responsible for figuring out how many phone lines to install, how to build a computer network, how to make sure that every laptop in the Pepsi Center has a wireless Internet connection. Right now, that means finding the answer to one question: "How are we going to do this?" By next July, when work begins in earnest to convert the Pepsi Center into a political hall, he has to have a plan for stringing the miles of cable that will be needed for building a system that will hold up to the demands of four whirlwind days and reflect the Democrats' commitment to recycling and other "green" principles. And then, when it's over, he better be ready to answer another question: "What are we going to do with every mile of cable? How do we make sure it doesn't go in the dumpster?" Elbra Wedgeworth President, Denver 2008 host committee Wedgeworth, a former Denver city councilwoman, is widely credited with spearheading Denver's bid for the convention. One of the host committee's main jobs will be to organize the volunteers who will welcome delegates at the airport and guide them around downtown. "We'll need about 10,000 volunteers, and we have more than half already signed up on our Web site," said Wedgeworth. The host committee has to live up to its name by throwing a series of parties, including a media kickoff party that should attract 15,000 people and 56 different parties for delegations from Guam to Maine. The volunteers will play a big role in extending convention festivities into neighborhoods all over the state. The committee is planning dozens of parties where people will be able to watch the convention at local watering holes, and they hope to bring national leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., into gatherings citywide. Special programs for children also are in the works. "It will be educational and fun," promises Wedgeworth. Steve Farber Co-chair, Denver 2008 host committee Farber is one of Denver's most visible attorneys and a player in some of the biggest deals in town, but these days he spends a lot of time begging - for money. Farber is president and founding partner of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, and that keeps him busy. He's active in charitable causes. But he's also heading up the effort to raise the $55 million needed to put on next year's Democratic National Convention. Every day, he comes in with the same goal: make 10 phone calls to people and businesses who might be willing to write the checks that will make the convention happen. He said the effort is going well - the committee has commitments for the $15 million in services it must raise and for more than $20 million in cash. And though the committee missed a June 1 deadline to have $7.5 million in the bank, Farber said he's confident the cash will be raised. "My goal is more concerned with raising the dollars than getting it tomorrow," he said. "Would I love to have it tomorrow? Absolutely. But it's a marathon." Larry DiPasquale President, Epicurean Catering DiPasquale, one of Denver's leading caterers, says there may be up to 400 different events during the convention. "I have two managers who participated in the (1996) Chicago Democratic convention and they were swamped," he said. "That's what we're anticipating." He's already booked several parties at local law firms, and has arranged to fly in more than a dozen out-of-town chefs to work for Epicurean that week. DiPasquale also has reserved extra refrigerators, ovens and stoves for next August. "You need to do this when you're anticipating serving this many people," he said.

FOX NATIONAL NEWS ON PAPA JACK SEPT 1, 2007 (Windows Media Player)

St. Louis, MO Jack Weil is 106 years old and works every day at his store in Denver. TRAVEL:   New acquaintances make St. Louisan's long road trip special By Jim Winnerman Tuesday, August 14, 2007 4:39 PM CDT The rewards of travel can be whom you meet as much as what you see. I will always remember three people I met on a driving trip to and from Colorado. One fellow was 106 years old, another 74 and the third was 89 when he died. I learned about the first gentleman walking near my Denver hotel. An article posted in the window of the Rockmount Western clothing store was about the owner, thought to be the oldest chief executive in the United States. On a whim I went in and found 106-year-old Jack Weil at his desk, going over past due accounts, wearing a straw cowboy hat, bolo tie and Western shirt. "Where are you from?" he asked after I introduced myself and he had offered a firm handshake. When I mentioned St. Louis, he told me about a business visit he made here in the 1920s. "The road signs were confusing, and I ended up on Eads Bridge," he recalled. "I refused to pay the toll. It was not my fault." Impressed with his memory, I told him I had bought suits on Washington Avenue at Curlee Clothing. "They only made cheap clothing," he said. I sat fascinated as Weil volunteered the history of his clothing store. He personally had known blue jean maker Levi Strauss and hat maker John Stetson. Weil himself originated the snaps and triangular shaped pockets now common on many Western shirts. When I left, I was calling him "Papa Jack" like everyone else in the store. I told him I'd stop in again on my next visit. "It will be nice to see you, and you do not have to buy anything," he said. Then he added, "But it would be nice." Planning a trip to Denver? The the fellow I met can make the long journey unforgettable.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, Australia   August 12, 2007

Arroyo Monthly, Pasadena CA Cowgirl chic goes south of the border July 30, 2007 By Irene Lacher Now here's a border issue you can wrap your head around-or at least your belt. The cantina look—where rugged Western fashion meets its Mexican girly-girl counterpart—is riding high in cowgirl-style circles these days. Going cantina chic can mean pairing sturdy jeans and cowboy boots with a fringed leather bolero jacket. Or try a rust-colored prairie skirt—better yet, a tiered mini—with a tooled Mexican loop gun holster—sans the gun, of course. It's the latest twist on an American fashion staple that's as indestructible as animal prints and Vuitton bags. Nothing comes between Hollywood and its cowboy boots, which are favorites of Kate Hudson and Sandra Bullock. Neo-cowgirls Mary J. Blige and Sheryl Crowe have been known to hit city streets in cowboy hats. Over recent seasons, Western wear has also shown up on the runways of designers like Anna Sui and Diane von Furstenberg. Even Britain's Luella Bartley dressed models in Apache headdresses with sheer black baby doll dresses for her geographically confused collection, “Cowboys and Indians at Glastonbury.” Western wear keeps coming back because it has that comfort and easy sex appeal associated with a life lived in the great outdoors. Marlboro Man, anyone? As Anna Sui said, explaining her collection of embroidered petticoats and scrunched cowboy boots, “It makes sense to look to what's going on in our country. This is what was happening here.” All fashions are available at the SW Hill Country Store, 1412 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock, (323) 256-2500. Cantina Cool This red cotton Western shirt with black-and-white embroidery, black piping, smile pockets and “shotgun” sleeves is made by Rockmount Ranch Wear, whose company founder, Jack A. Weil, is credited with putting the snap into Western shirts. $99.

TONIGHT SHOW with Jay Leno interview with Papa Jack is August 1 on NBC.   This segment has to do with the DNC coming to Denver next year. If he can stay up so can the rest of us! They asked him "Who do you prefer:  Grover Cleveland or George Bush?"   One answer might have been David Letterman...

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS By Penny Parker July 24, 2007 THE SEEN: The legendary Bob Dylan and crew buying 20 signature snap-front shirts at Rockmount Ranch Wear in LoDo preconcert Friday. "And you know what the worst thing was?" Rockmount heir Steve Weil told me. "I wasn't there."

T Entertainment Section By John Wenzel Denver Post staff writer July 20, 2007 Cheyenne Frontier Days keeps cowboy legend kickin' Jack A. Weil, the wizened, 106-year-old CEO of ROCKMOUNT RANCH WEAR, once said "There's no Westerner like an Easterner." Shawn Basinger of Galeton, CO gets down and dirty in the steer wrestling event of the rodeo at the Cheyenne Frontier Days 2006 in Cheyenne Wyoming. (the Post | John Leyba) Listen up, pardner, because the truth in that cannot be overstated. LoDo-based Rockmount, founded by Weil in 1946, helped popularize Western wear around the world, allowing buttoned-down types to don hats, spurs and all manner of polished leather in an attempt to become cowboys and cowgirls for a day. In the modern West, is there any other type? Just as studded Harley-Davidson gear replaces business suits for many on the weekends, Temporary Cowboy Syndrome is a fixture of our region. And just as anyone can be Irish on St. Patrick's Day, any city slicker can transform into a cowpoke during Cheyenne Frontier Days. The world's largest outdoor rodeo and Western celebration (a.k.a. "The Daddy of 'Em All") is the epicenter of Temporary Cowboy Syndrome. Kicking off today and marking its 111th mounting, the event combines world-class cattle roping with parades, pancake breakfasts and arena-sized concerts from Bon Jovi, Reba McEntire, Big & Rich, Def Leppard and others. "People get to live somewhat of a fantasy at Cheyenne Frontier Days," said president Charlie West. "It's like going to Disneyland for the first time. You walk through that gate and you just forget about everything else. "You want to be a piece of everything around you. You want to stand up and scream and holler." Explosive population growth and industrialization have been realities in the West for more than a century, but our collective myths about the region - eternal abundance, lawless adventure, untamed wilderness - sustain and reinforce a national dream of rugged individualism. "In 1890 the U.S. Census declared that the American frontier was gone," said Michael Kassel, exhibits curator at Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum. "That signaled the disappearance of natives wandering the plains, the open range and big cattle drives. That same year, Cheyenne became the capital of Wyoming, and people there were acutely aware of how quickly the West was disappearing." At a stop in Cheyenne, Fredrick Angier, a passenger agent for the Union Pacific Railroad, witnessed two men trying to wrestle a horse into a boxcar. An idea struck him, and in 1897 he joined with Cheyenne Daily Sun-Leader publisher Col. E.A. Slack to found Cheyenne Frontier Days to commemorate the Old West's passing. In the 21st century, the basics of that rodeo celebration remain largely unchanged - except now it attracts half a million people from every corner of the globe. "Frontier Days has a strong role in keeping the myth of the West alive," Kassel said. "The breaking of horses, the corralling of livestock ... a lot of things you see in rodeo today are the skills that cowboys and ranchers used to survive." Paying to live the dream These days, most people can get close to that lifestyle only by paying for it. Cowboy schools and adventure weeks preserve a certain version of the West that people like to think they live in, even though most of us dwell in urban centers such as Denver, Phoenix, Albuquerque and Salt Lake City. "Our clients grew up with the cowboy dream," said Penny Persson, owner of Colorado Cattle Co. and Guest Ranch. "They watched 'Bonanza' or 'Big Valley' on TV, but they turned away from it when they got a job, got married and moved to suburbia. At one point they woke up, looked around and said, 'Well, I miss that dream.'" Persson's working ranch, two hours northeast of Denver in New Raymer, hosts 350 to 400 guests each year at $1,650 a head for a week of authentic ranching and rodeo skills. "People have a romanticized version of the West, riding the range and working cattle," Persson said. "I believe it takes a special facility to give them the experience that meets their dream." At Persson's hands-on operation, guests brand cattle in the spring, help vaccinate and care for sick animals, and drive herds to market alongside the ranch's real cowboys. Many clients come from as far as Italy, France and Sweden for the experience. The icon of the cowboy is more appealing to Europeans than the American flag, Persson said, because the latter implies our political standing, and the former is universal. "They see the cowboy as a symbol of freedom that's unchanging and unyielding because people are concerned they're losing the West," she said. "It's changing and evolving our land as society and technology encroaches." People may love the universality of the cowboy image, but it's easy to overdo it. Saddling up in Western wear doesn't need to be a once-yearly costume timed to such events as Cheyenne Frontier Days or the National Western Stock Show. A slice of stylish rebellion "We're all about lifestyle, and the beauty of Western (wear) is its immense breadth," said Steve Weil, president of Rockmount Ranch Wear and the grandson of its founder. "It's a wide spectrum of styles, colors and looks, everything from flamboyant to conservative." Weil said that Rockmount, a manufacturer that sells to retailers around the world, resists the idea of Western wear as a uniform. The company offers 200 varieties of shirts, for example, spanning denim, linen, plaids, stripes and checks. "If you're not wearing this stuff already, then you shouldn't jump into the whole thing at once, because you'll feel like Howdy Doody," Weil said. "You want to build it gradually so you'll be comfortable. I can wear a Western shirt and penny loafers, or a pair of boots and a suit. "That's the beauty of Western - it's very individual. The whole point of it was a rebellion against conformity." For the hundreds of thousands that will swarm Cheyenne over the next 10 days, it's also a sweet, collective dream. Staff writer John Wenzel can be reached at 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com.

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS Rocca sees city's sights for Tonight Show July 12, 2007 Penny Parker Comedian and Tonight Show correspondent Mo Rocca was as busy as a beaver Tuesday and Wednesday interviewing local notables and seeing the sights around Denver in anticipation of the Democratic National Convention here next August. After conducting man-on-the-street interviews Tuesday along the 16th Street Mall, Rocca and camera crew ducked into Mariel, a tres chic women's clothing boutique on Larimer Square. "They wanted to show a place where the candidates' wives might shop," said Mariel owner Denise Snyder. "(Rocca) held up two outfits for the camera: a red ruffled trench coat for John Edwards' wife, a gray Audrey Hepburn brocade jacket for Barack Obama's wife..." Wednesday morning, Rocca stopped by Rockmount Ranch Wear to interview "Papa" Jack Weil, the store's 106-year-old founder and the inventor of the Western snap-front shirt. "It's not easy for a 106-year-old guy to do sound bites," said Rockmount heir Steve Weil. "He starts talking about the 1930s, and it takes a while." Steve and the Tonight Show crew swapped T-shirts, and they all bought signature shirts. "One of the things Rocca said to Papa Jack after talking about Brokeback Mountain (Rockmount supplied shirts for the movie) was, 'Papa Jack, don't quit me.' " Steve said the funny man also asked Papa Jack whom he liked of the Democratic candidates. "He said, 'I'm a Republican.' " Denver's segment will air in August on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. I'll let you know when I hear a specific date. EAVESDROPPING on a man looking out the window on 14th Street during the Oceanaire party: "I just looked up and saw this hot chick and it was my wife. Boy, am I lucky." Penny Parker's column appears Tuesday through Saturday. Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail parkerp@RockyMountainNews.com.

Rocky Mountain News July 10, 2007  Tonight Show to interview Papa Jack ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS July 10, 2007 Parker: ' Tonight Show checks on DNC doings Penny Parker It'll be a tale of two cities with a twist when comedian Mo Rocca brings a Tonight Show With Jay Leno crew here today and tomorrow to shoot a segment on things to do in Denver while attending the Democratic National Convention next August. Tonight will put Minneapolis, site of the Republican National Convention, under the same entertainment microscope. "They want to see how prepared are we for the DNC and how prepared Minneapolis is for the RNC," said Angela Berardino, spokeswoman for the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau who's been working with Tonight Show producers. Plans include Rocca interviews with Mayor John Hickenlooper and "Papa" Jack Weil, the 106-year-old founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear, as well as footage of the Coors brewery, Elitch Gardens and man-on-the-street bits along the 16th Street Mall. "We know they're going to tease us, but overall I think it's going to be positive," Berardino said. Tonight's shooting schedule includes the devilish drag show Demented Divas: Half Baked and Fully Toasted, a tribute to food and booze, at Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret, 16th Street Mall and Arapahoe Street. "Some of us had new wigs made," said head diva Nuclia Waste about the pending national exposure. "Mine's pink with big barrel curls." The show (8 p.m. Tuesdays) also stars Portia Potty, Gabbriella Butz'In and Iona Trailer. "This is huge," Waste said. "It's national exposure for a little drag show"... EAVESDROPPING on a woman and a man at The Empress restaurant: "My new kitchen has incest lights." "That would be recessed lights." Penny Parker's column appears Tuesday through Saturday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail parkerp@RockyMoun tainNews.com.

Fodor's Travel Guide to Colorado features Rockmount

THE DENVER POST June 18, 2007 Denver goes with what it knows Visitors bureau gives outsiders the inside scoop By Linda Castrone Denver Post Staff Writer Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau Handout Everyone knows about the Rocky Mountains and the 300-plus days of sunshine a year. But that's not enough to persuade them to vacation in Denver. They need to know what there is to do once they get here and how they can find the authentic "Denver" experiences usually reserved for locals. In a bold, new ad campaign called "Know What the Locals Know," the Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau is trying to deliver just that. Designed by Denver's Karsh/Hagan agency, the ads that debuted in April team photos of locals with three- and four-word tips, then refer interested travelers to  visitdenver.com for more information. Jack Weil, the 106-year-old founder of Rockmount Ranchwear, appears in one that says, "Ask for Papa Jack," for example. A Brown Palace Hotel chef appears in another, urging readers to "Try the bison." Other ads highlight the Denver Art Museum, Lower Downtown, outdoor activities and Red Rocks Amphitheatre. "Everybody knows we have the mountains, so we have to put a face on Denver and the things that make it special," said Pasquale "Pocky" Marranzino, chairman of Karsh/Hagan. "There's nothing in the world like Red Rocks. It's a singular experience." So are playing golf and skiing the same day, viewing Denver's own bison herd, watching a ballgame at Coors Field and ordering buffalo at the Brown Palace. "Our roots are in the West, which is always a selling point," Marranzino said. "But you can get the West elsewhere. You have to combine it with the high energy and fun" of vibrant shopping, dining, culture and night- life opportunities. "We have a Western heritage, and we don't have to shy away from it," said bureau president Richard Scharf. "But we've had a cultural renaissance and fine dining, too." Added Rich Grant, the bureau's spokesman, "We're urban mountain West, the Ralph Lauren West, not the hokey dude-ranch stuff." If early tallies are any indication, the campaign is a winner. After just two months of print, TV and billboard ads in target markets, traffic to the tourism bureau's website is up 30 to 40 percent. For definitive data about its effectiveness, they'll have to wait for next year's industry survey by Longwoods International.  The campaign is funded by a 1 percentage point increase in the lodgers tax, which generates about $4 million in revenue each year.

AAA VIA Magazine on Denver:  Visit Rockmount

5280 Magazine profiles Papa Jack

French Magazine Le Point picks Rockmount for visit to Denver, the gateway to the great quest of the West.

Jun 8, 2007 6:45 am US/Mountain CBS4 Denver - Ranch Wear Business Features 3 Generations Weil Family Men Are Driving Force Behind Rockmount Ranch Wear VIDEO Brooke Wagner Reporting (CBS4) DENVER Three generations of fathers, including America's oldest CEO at 106-years-old, are the driving force behind a landmark Denver business. Rockmount Ranch Wear has been selling western clothing since 1946. "Papa" Jack A. Weil, the CEO, his son Jack B. Weil, 77 and the company's vice president, and Steve Weil, another vice president, recently sat down with CBS4's Brooke Wagner to talk about the company that goes behind family tradition. The eldest Weil still heads to work 5 days a week with son Jack B. and grandson Steve. He got the idea for Rockmount when he was a traveling salesman. He wanted to make western shirts with snaps. "Are you proud of what you've built?" Wagner asked. "It's very satisfactory," said Jack A. Weil. "It's very self satisfactory." His western shirt with snaps is the longest running production shirt in America. It's in the Smithsonian and "Papa" Jack always has one on. Weil said he wanted to give cowboys a style more trademark than tumbleweed. "Minneapolis, Minnesota. See, the whole country goes for this stuff!" he said. The eldest Weil's son, Jack B., joined the company in 1954 after serving in the Korean war. The son took Rockmount behind the Mississippi. "I styled the line for 25 years," Jack B. said. "I'd buy piece goods and draw up the shirt and have it made. We always did okay, but it wasn't anything special. I don't know how we finally got into the limelight, a lot of people didn't even know we were in town." Rockmount eventually made it into the movies with its western wear shirts and recently opened a retail store in its Wazee Street building in Denver. Grandson Steve Weil started working with the company in 1981 and took it international. "We had to get involved to meet that new environment or go out of business," Steve said. "So I think we've successfully reinvented ourselves. Now we have contact with people all over the world, including someone in Antarctica. The fourth Weil generation, Coulter, 9, hasn't decided yet if his destiny lies on Wazee St. But he has already helped pick colors for the Rockmount Kids' line and stand by the product. He has five or six of ten of the shirts. "Today, what makes us, gives us the notoriety, is that we're the last guys standing," Jack A. Weil said. "We are the last and earliest business left in this neighborhood." (© MMVII CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) SOUTHWEST AIRLINES MAGAZINE visit Denver article features Rockmount and Papa Jack.

Papa Jack is featured in the "Visit Denver"  advertising campaign by the Denver Convention & Visitors Bureau.  This billboard is in Pheonix, AZ, in addition to others in Albuquerque and Minneapolis.

ASK  FOR PAPA JACK BILLBOARD "ASK FOR PAPA JACK" is on billboards and print ads promoting "VISIT DENVER"  by the Denver Visitors & Convention Bureau in Phoenix, Albuquerque, & Minneapolis.

National Public Radio, Morning Edition:  JACK WEIL OLDEST CEO National Public Radio Business Oldest CEO Draws Fans to Denver by Nancy Greenleese Morning Edition, April 27, 2007 · The man believed to be the country's oldest chief executive officer of a company is 106. Jack Weil goes to work every day at Rockmount Ranch Wear, the western clothing apparel company he founded in 1946. Customers flock to the store's headquarters in Denver for more than just rodeo wear. They want to spend time with the man called "Papa Jack." From member station KUNC in Greeley, Colo., Nancy Greenleese reports.

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS April 17, 2007   Penny Parker GIANTS SALE: Rockmount Ranch Wear heir Steve Weil told me Monday that two of the San Francisco Giants, in town to face the Rockies this week, stopped by the LoDo store and bought a monster pile of shirts. Giants hitting coach Joe -Lefebvre said about the shirts: "We hit a home run today. This is beautiful stuff." Weil mentioned to bullpen catcher Bill Hayes that the snap-shirt czar of the store had attended the Rockies home opener but that the home team lost. Hayes said he thought the Rockies are looking strong this year but hoped not too strong this week.

THE DENVER POST March 27, 2007 Rockmount's chief turns 106 A VERY SENIOR CEO STILL IN THE SADDLE By Will Shanley Denver Post Staff Writer Jack Weil sits where he does every weekday, in his office at Rockmount Ranch Wear on Wazee Street. Believed to be the oldest CEO in the U.S., he founded Rockmount in 1946. His Western shirt design with snaps instead of buttons has endured as a hit for decades. (Post / Andy Cross) --------------------- Jack A. Weil, the founder and chief executive of Denver-based Rockmount Ranch Wear, is believed to be the nation's oldest CEO. He turns 106 today. Credited with introducing snap buttons on Western shirts, Weil's slim-fitting shirts have been worn by luminaries including Ronald Reagan, Elvis Presley and Eric Clapton. "We hit on something that interested people," said Weil, speaking from the company's retail outlet and offices at 1626 Wazee St. in downtown Denver. "It was the attraction of the Rocky Mountains." Weil's grandson Steve heads daily operations of the manufacturing company, which sells internationally. Older, Wiser Jack Weil typically works about four hours each weekday at the office and is driven to and from his home. In the off hours, he said, he likes to watch reruns of "The Andy Griffith Show," which premiered when Weil was 59. Weil has learned a thing or two about life and business during his more than 10 decades. Here are some nuggets of wisdom from "Papa Jack." On making a good Western shirt: "A crummy shirt fits like a sack. The other is a form-fitting shirt, which is what I figured to make." On building a successful business: "You've got to consider the environment, and you've got to consider the times. I learned a long time ago that I don't want anyone to give me more than 5 percent of my business. Because if I lose them, that would put too much pressure on (the company)." On dealing with overdue customers: "I suggest that they send me three or four checks post-dated. Not too many (business) people do that. You have to understand your customers' problems." On working every day: "What the heck else would I do?" On opening a retail store: "We went into retail to stay in business. Wal-Mart has put a lot of independent merchants out of business. The wholesalers are nearly gone. But it might be better for the consumer." On doing business with the founder of retailer J.C. Penney: "I sold Penney some of his first shirts. James Cash Penney was a country boy out of Missouri. He was a smart guy." On money and politics: "I've always felt that a young man worth his salt is a Democrat until he makes a little money. And if he wants to save that money, he becomes a Republican." On marrying well: "I guess I didn't know any better. I married a country girl, but she was a smarty." (His wife, Beatrice, died in 1990.) On drinking whiskey: "I drink for medicinal purposes. I take a shot of Jack Daniel's about twice a week to keep my blood thin." Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-954-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com. TIME LINE - Jack A. Weil March 28, 1901: Weil was born in Evansville, Ind., to Abraham Weil, who fled the Alsace-Lorraine region of France during the Franco-Prussian invasion of 1871. June 22, 1926: He married Beatrice Baum in Humboldt, Tenn. They had two children, son Jack B. in 1928 and daughter Jane Romberg in 1935. Beatrice died in 1990. 1928: The Weils moved to Denver so he could market Paris Garters for the A. Stein Co. of Chicago. "When I came to Denver, Highway 40 down Colfax was a gravel road," Weil said. 1935: He became a partner in the Stockman Co., which sold jeans and hats to farmers and working cowboys. Weil persuaded chamber of commerce and rodeo officials to promote their towns and events by wearing Western clothes. The strategy worked, and the firm, now Miller Co., prospered. 1939: Weil paid for his first house at 233 Belaire St., in full, after saving for 11 years. The family later moved to Capitol Hill, where Weil lives today. Weil began making shirts inspired by fashions he saw in early Western movies. 1940s: Weil was an air-raid warden during WWII. 1946: Weil founded Rockmount Ranch Wear Mfg. Co., 1626 Wazee St. His shirt design of the sawtooth pocket and diamond signature snap instead of buttons is among the longest-running shirt designs manufactured in the U.S. He had to persuade his Eastern manufacturers to create a snap that would survive a ringer washing machine. "If a cowboy's buttoned shirt got hooked on a steer's horn, it would hold," he said. "But the snap would pop open." 1952: His son, Jack B. Weil, joined the firm, broadening Rockmount's lines and expanding the company nationally. 1981: Grandson Steve Weil joined Rockmount after receiving degrees from Tulane University and the University of Bristol in England. Steve extended Rockmount's reach across the globe. January 2001: Wazee Street was renamed by Mayor Wellington Webb as "Jack A. Weil Way" in recognition of his 100th birthday. An annual sign-changing celebration has continued since then, including today at 11:30 a.m. November 2005: The Rockmount warehouse was renovated and opened as the flagship store and museum at 1626 Wazee. Rockmount shirts were worn in the movie "Brokeback Mountain." Sources: The Denver Post archives; Steve Weil of Rockmount Ranch Wear Compiled by Vickie Makings of The Denver Post Research Library

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS FRONT COVER -  March 29, 2007 'Papa Jack' moseys to another birthday Barry Gutierrez © The Rocky "Papa Jack" Weil - who turned 106 Wednesday - is at his desk every weekday morning at Rockmount Ranch Wear, the LoDo Western wear company he founded in 1946. RELATED LINKS Audio slide show: 'Papa Jack' Weil turns 106 Some people never quit. "Papa Jack" Weil - who turned 106 Wednesday - is at his desk every weekday morning at Rockmount Ranch Wear, the LoDo Western wear company he founded in 1946. "Papa Jack has always been the patriarch of our family," Steve Weil said of his grandfather. "He's been sort of a mythic figure for all of the family. Growing up, he was the go-to guy. He was the guy we went to with all of the trials and tribulations of growing up." Jack A. Weil, who was born nearly three years before the Wright brothers made their first flight, does business in the same Wazee Street building where he founded his company, a historic brick structure dating to 1908. Denver marked "Papa Jack's" birthday with a change of street signs - from Wazee Street to Jack A. Weil Boulevard. The city began the annual tradition of the street sign change in Weil's honor the year he turned 100.

OLD MAN AND THE STREET DENVER POST