Mark Dennis Damsgaard

After a long battle with Parkinson’s, Dennis passed away in Littleton, Colorado on March 17, 2025, with his wife Ginni at his side. Dennis was born March 27, 1946, in Des Moines, Iowa to Dennis and Miriam (Beckhoff) Damsgaard. He grew up in Cedar Falls, Iowa before enrolling as a midshipman in the ROTC program at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant and served in the U.S. Navy on a destroyer in Vietnam. Following his honorable discharge, he enrolled at the University of Iowa and earned his MBA.

In 1974, Dennis began his career at Massey-Ferguson in Des Moines, Iowa where he met Ginni Bahl, his forever love and eventual wife. When his position was transferred to Toronto, Canada in 1983, he chose to relocate instead to Colorado, which had stolen his heart when he lived in Boulder. Dennis and Ginni married and began a new adventure in Denver, ultimately buying their home in Centennial. He worked as a financial/systems analyst for many years at Children’s Hospital in Denver and then at Kinder Morgan in Lakewood until his retirement.

Dennis was the quintessential “numbers guy” and loved creating spreadsheets and working with computers. He continued studying programming languages even after retirement. Believe it or not, preparing annual tax returns was just a numbers puzzle for him to solve.

Dennis had a dry, quirky sense of humor and enjoyed friendly repartee with his medical providers which would always elicit smiles from the team. He loved teasing his wife’s sisters and they never knew when to take him seriously – until he broke out his sneaky grin.

Dennis developed into a model pet parent to numerous dogs and cats during his marriage. This included fostering pets for the local shelter. He adored his huskies and so missed having a dog the last few years of his life. He became quite the cat dad, too, although he always said he was a dog person.

Dennis was predeceased by his parents, sister Mary and brother-in law Rick Bahl. He is survived by Ginni, his devoted wife and partner of 50 years, feline wingman Jackson and sisters-in-law Didi (Terry) Baal, Lauri (David) Allen, Cherie (Kevin) Cole, brother-in-law Randy Bahl and numerous nieces and nephews. He will be deeply missed and remembered with abundant love.

A life celebration is planned for later in the year. Check www.horancares.com for details when they become available.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Dennis' memory to MaxFund, Cat Care Society or DDFL (now Humane Colorado) or any animal welfare organization.