Former city manager remembered for keeping calm amid turmoil

Former Colorado Springs City Manager Richard Zickefoose, a quiet but serious leader who had a calming effect on City Hall during a tumultuous time, died Sunday. He was 74.

Zickefoose died of melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer that he effectively managed through treatment until the last month of his life, his son, Bill, said today.

“It was a blessing that he didn’t have a protracted battle, which many people do,” he said in a telephone interview from California. “He really lived his life on his own terms right up to the end, which we consider a huge blessing.”

Born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Zickefoose graduated from Iowa State University in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in geology. Zickefoose spent summers at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden while he was attending Iowa State, his son said.

“I’m almost sure that’s how he got his love of Colorado going,” Bill Zickefoose said.

“He loved the West, especially Colorado,” he added. “He loved the mountains. He knew all the Fourteeners.”

Zickefoose spent eight years in the Army, including a tour in Vietnam as a field artillery officer, attaining the rank of captain.

“He was really proud of his military service, especially as the years went on,” his son said.

Interested in becoming a pastor, he attended Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., in 1966 before deciding to get into government administration.

After working as personnel manager at the Iowa Department of Transportation, Zickefoose became personnel manager for the city of Colorado Springs in 1977.

In 1986, he was promoted to deputy city manager and then to city manager in 1990, a job he held for five years before retiring.

Mary Lou Makepeace, who was on the council at the time, said Zickefoose was a quiet but serious manager.

“It was kind of a difficult time on council,” she said. “There was a lot of dissent on council, a lot of disagreement amongst the council members. He had his fans. He had his detractors. If you can imagine working for nine bosses, you can kind of get the picture of what it can be like when council is in turmoil with itself.”

Zickefoose was a “nuts and bolts” type of leader, she said.

“He knew how to do the right preparation to bring to council,” she said. “I think he was maybe more of the style of what I see Penny (Culbreth-Graft) is now, where council took the lead and the city manager didn’t try to … steal the thunder of the council.”

Zickefoose had an “engaging personality,” former Councilwoman Mary Ellen McNally said.

“He was always very professional, accommodating, easy to get along with, always responded to questions and never got flustered,” she said.

Zickefoose may be remembered best for his work on “comparable worth,” which is also called pay equity.

Female employees were “very concerned that men doing jobs that were comparable to what women were doing were getting paid more,” Makepeace said. “They organized, and they made their case, and Dick did support them and ultimately so did council and the mayor.”

Bill Zickefoose said his father didn’t talk a lot about work at home but remembered that he had high ethical standards.

“I remember once we were able to get tickets to the U.S. Open tennis tournament in 1989 in New York, but he insisted on paying for them himself,” he said. “There was a vendor who I guess wanted to do business with the city and was only too happy to give us the tickets. But he (paid) for them himself.”

Richard Zickefoose was an avid tennis player who enjoyed traveling, especially on his Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200, he said. He and his wife of 53 years, Gretchen, also enjoyed spending time at The Broadmoor. In 2007, Richard and Gretchen celebrated their wedding anniversary at the luxury hotel and brought their entire family in for the weekend.

“He just loved how fancy it was,” Bill Zickefoose said. “Once we heard this loud boom, and we didn’t know what it was. My dad said, ‘Somebody must have dropped his wallet,’ and we all just thought that was hilarious.”

Zickefoose’s family will hold a celebration of his life at 4 p.m. Dec. 12 at the Pioneers Museum, 215 S. Tejon St.