UBSC Passing: Dan Buck

Published on dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/boulder-co//

Dan Buck

Daniel Michael Buck

AUGUST 16, 1941 – DECEMBER 29, 2025

Daniel Michael Buck, born on August 16, 1941, passed away on December 29, 2025, at the age of 84.

Dan was born in Champaign, IL and after high school and a two-year stint in the Army decided to head west to Los Angeles in 1968 where he met Charlotte on Malibu Beach. They got married in 1970 and enjoyed their beach days, bicycling, and skiing. They eventually wanted to get away from smog and be closer to ski slopes, so they moved to Boulder in 1972.

By this time, Dan was a true computer guru, having gotten into the field on the ground floor in the 1960s. His first and only job in Colorado was working for [United Banks Service Company,] Norwest Banks, which morphed into Wells Fargo, as systems analyst and manager of IT operations.

After retiring in 2006 from an illustrious, 30+ year career at Wells Fargo, Dan had more time for his passions, especially tennis, skiing and sea kayaking.

He became a bit of a fixture at the Brewing Market in Boulder and thoroughly enjoyed solving the world’s problems with various groups of “coffee guys”. He and Charlotte divorced after 25 years, but remained close, especially after their son, Ryan, passed away in 2009. His sister, Maureen Spaid and a nephew, Richard Spaid, both passed in recent years.

Despite setbacks in life, he always counted his blessings and among those is a large circle of friends He is survived by a nephew, Mike Spaid and his family in Mountain View, California, a brother-in-law, Frank Spaid of Boulder, and his loving friend, Charlotte, in Louisville.

Dan passed away at Boulder Community Health of Stage 4 colon cancer. Dan loved cats and dogs, so please make any donations in his honor to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.

There [was] a celebration of life for Dan at the Crist Mortuary Chapel on Saturday, January 17 at 2:00 pm.

Dan worked with me installing and supporting United Denver's wire transfer systems. Both Fed wire and Swift. He did this when the cash register building was being built. We had to cover the DEC computer and peripherals with plastic due to dust. As you may remember the Wires area was adjacent to the Vault during the UBD bank robbery. Dan being interviewed by the FBI was a trip. He was a "spirited" guy.

He was a feisty and enjoyable guy to work with. Night and day call in guy with a smile. The only time I ever saw him upset seriously was when the Boulder wind blew the roof off his condo.
-- Burt McGregor

My favorite story of Dan is when we had Dan Buck and Paula Grady some co-workers from MN on site for a meeting and Jim Stokes purchased tickets for the Rockies game. Since there were more people that would fit into one car, we took two cars and Dan offered to drive one of the cars.

We went to out to lunch first and then the game. We meet up at the restaurant and one of the MN guys pulls Brian Wood and I aside and ask if he can ride back with us. When we asked why, he says the gas gauge was on empty, Dan like to look at you while he was driving/talking, and he wasn't too concerned with adhering to the speed limit. When this co-worker was expressing his concerns about these things, Dan just kept saying, "It's fine,nothing to worry about".

That was typical Dan - it was always fine and there was nothing to worry about. He made it back to Boulder on the empty gas tank, so it was fine we guessed. And yes, we squeezed in the extra person so Dan could leave downtown Denver and go straight home after the game.
-- Paula Grady