Colorado billionaire James “Jim” Leprino, who kept a low profile despite being one of the state’s wealthiest residents, died on Thursday, June 19 at age 87.
Leprino wasn’t one to work the social circuit, grant media interviews or even allow his photo to be taken. But he took the Leprino Foods Co., now known as Leprino, from a small local supplier of handmade cheeses to the world’s largest producer of mozzarella.
“Jim was known for his unwavering commitment to the people of Leprino, always ready to offer guidance, support and mentorship. He had a profound influence on countless lives — including his family, friends, customers, suppliers and the dairy industry,” his family, which declined an interview, said in a joint statement issued last week with the company.
Anybody who orders home-delivered pizza has likely tasted Leprino’s handiwork multiple times, especially the “stretch” in cheese he helped create. And for fitness fanatics who wouldn’t dare put a slice to their lips, the company is also a leading producer of whey protein, a liquid byproduct of making mozzarella that was considered a waste product until Jim tapped its value as a protein source for everything from infant formula to post-workout smoothies.
His father, Mike Leprino Sr., immigrated to the United States from Potenza, Italy, in 1914, and Jim was one of five children. After working various jobs, Mike Sr. fulfilled his retirement wish by starting a family grocery store in 1950. It was located along 38th Avenue and Shoshone Street in the heart of what was then Denver’s Little Italy.
Among the many goods offered up to the nearby paisani in the Sunnyside neighborhood were handmade ricotta and scamorza cheese.
Grocery store chains knocked many independent stores out of business, and Leprino & Sons was no exception. Jim, who worked at his father’s store in 1956 after graduating from high school, came up with the idea of supplying cheese to the fast-growing pizza business.
As the country’s love affair with pizza grew, Leprino Foods capitalized on it by supplying cheese to the companies that supplied the pizzas. But it wasn’t just a case of good timing. A test plant built next to the company headquarters on the original store site constantly reworked cheese formulas to meet the specific needs of specific customers, resulting in more than 50 patents.
Given that the cheese can represent about 40% of the cost of a pizza, the ability to produce it consistently in large quantities and at a lower cost helped pizza expand in popularity.
Pizza Hut, based in Wichita, Kan., was an early customer of the Leprino Cheese Manufacturing Co., the predecessor to Leprino Foods, which eventually became an exclusive supplier to Domino’s Pizza, a pioneer in the home pizza delivery market, in 1996. Most of the largest pizzamakers are customers, including Little Caesars and Papa John’s, as are manufacturers of items ranging from Hot Pockets to frozen dinners.
The company grew by producing cheese the way customers wanted, with zero public food recalls and at a price that beat the competition, cementing decades-long relationships. One of its biggest developments in the 1980s was a process that could convert fresh milk to pizza-ready cheese in four hours.
Forbes, in one of the only interviews Jim Leprino ever granted, called him the “Willy Wonka of cheese.” Business success resulted in financial success. Forbes ranked Leprino this year as the state’s sixth wealthiest resident with a $2.1 billion net worth. Despite having only a high school education, he was the world’s 1,736th richest person, per Forbes.
In the days of rapid growth, Leprino had cards printed out for employees with four core values written on them, the same ones used by his father at the family grocery store — quality, service, competitive price and ethics.
Leprino employs 5,500 people and supplies customers around the globe, and the state has benefited in numerous ways, including providing dairy farmers a ready market. The company built a plant in Fort Morgan in 1994 that employs 380 workers who convert 2.3 million pounds of milk a day into cheese and other dairy products.
“Occasionally, some of us are fortunate during our lives to meet individuals who will forever leave an invaluable legacy and footprint in the communities and lives they touch. Jim Leprino was one of those who, I feel, sparked positive momentum with development efforts for the (the city) when he chose to build his first Colorado cheese manufacturing plant in Fort Morgan more than 30 years ago,” said Sandy Schneider-Engle, an economic development specialist with the city in an email.
She added that several other companies followed Leprino, including the Dairy Farmers of America, creating an impact that “will continue to be felt in this Colorado community for many years.”
Leprino Foods went even bigger in 2011, converting a former sugar beet plant in Greeley to a production facility that employs 500 workers who convert 7 million pounds of milk a day into cheese.
But as fans of the television series “Succession” witnessed, tension and feuding can follow success at a family-run business. Jim tried twice, in 2008 and 2012, to buy out the quarter share controlled by his older brother Mike Jr. for $250 million. Both times, his offers were rejected as too low.
Mike Jr. was removed from the board and the company changed its corporate structure in a way that ended dividend payments. After he died, his interest went to his two daughters, Nancy and Mary, who sued the company and their uncle Jim in 2022, claiming a breach of fiduciary duty. The courts, in the original decision and on appeal, sided with Jim Leprino, arguing that despite his telling them the shares were worthless, they still held value and that his nieces hadn’t proven financial harm.
Leprino is survived by his wife Donna; his daughters Gina Vecchiarelli and Terry Leprino; his granddaughters Gianna Vecchiarelli and Francesca Lukas.
Jim Leprino and his family started the Leprino Foods Company Foundation in 2015 to support and advance the success of the communities where it operates. It has focused on fitness, education, nutrition and local needs.
The UCHealth Leprino Building in Aurora, which houses the Stroke and Brain Aneurysm Center, was built with family support, as was the Leprino Family Atrium at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Jim Leprino was also a big supporter of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church, where a private memorial service will be held next week.
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