Horst Lambrecht

Horst Karlheinz Lambrecht, 89, a long-time resident of Boulder, Colorado, and most recently of Louisville, Colorado, passed away in the early morning of Friday, February 3, 2023. He was born May 3, 1933, in Alt Blessin, Germany (now Stary Błeszyn, Poland) to Wilhelm and Emma (Hildebrandt) Lambrecht. He grew up helping on the family farm and later his uncle's farm in Güstebiese Loose, East Germany. There Horst discovered his love for designing and building things. After primary schooling, he completed his apprenticeship as a machinist before going to Ludwigshafen, West Germany, and then immigrating to Ontario, Canada, in 1955.

While still in Germany, Horst met Gudrun Badicke. After she immigrated to Canada, they married in Galt, Ontario, on September 6, 1958. They briefly returned to Germany before arriving in the United States in 1963, living in Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Jose. Upon hearing that IBM was building a new facility near Boulder and needed machinists and toolmakers, Horst (who was not a fan of the earthquakes in California anyway) moved his family to Colorado in 1970. Shortly after arriving in Boulder, he co-founded Complex Tooling, Inc. Despite working hard to run his business, Horst had time to study for his citizenship test, and he and Gudrun became U.S. citizens in 1979. During the summer school breaks, Horst regularly packed the family into the bright orange Volkswagen Westfalia Bus to take long road trips around the country. While vacationing in California, Florida, South Carolina, and Canada, the kids often mugged for the 8mm film camera, typically in Horst's hands.

After selling Complex Tooling and enjoying a short retirement, Horst co-founded Protogenic, Inc. in 1990, one of the first 3D printing service companies in the country. Throughout the years, he enjoyed painting, photography, traveling around Europe and Australia, and he loved cruising on his boat Whenever at Lake Powell, Utah, with family and friends. While not a religious man, his family suspects he worshiped in the aisles of McGuckin Hardware (if you're from Boulder, you understand) in search of the newest gadgets, the best fasteners for a house project, or the perfect accessory for his many Dremel tools. Over the years, Horst's desire for new house projects led him to design two of his own houses, and they moved several times over the last 20 years, living in Castle Rock, Denver, and Broomfield, Colorado, and Green Valley, Arizona.

Horst is survived by Gudrun Lambrecht, his wife of 64 years, his son Ken (Laura Lee) Lambrecht, grandsons Connor Lambrecht and Evan Lambrecht, and daughter Mona (Richard von Sneidern) Lambrecht, all of Colorado.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Wilhelm and Emma, brother Ewald Lambrecht, and nephew Manfred Lambrecht.

The family is planning a private memorial gathering for early this summer. Instead of flowers, please consider a donation to TRU Community Care Hospice at: www.trucare.org/make-a-donation-to-tru .