Kurt Edward Vogelman's Obituary
Kurt Edward Vogelman was born on September 13, 1949 in Madison, Wisconsin. His earliest
claim to fame was that he was in a national milk commercial at the age of 5! He attended
elementary, junior high school, high school and college in Madison and grew up loving golf,
skiing and art. He missed his high school graduation because he took a trip to Oahu to surf for
the summer and ate rice and hot dogs every day for $1.
He studied art in college and was an accomplished painter. Given his interest in art, he played a
lot of pool throughout college and just barely graduated. Upon graduation, he worked
construction in Madison in the summer doing masonry work for his brother and then worked in
Colorado at the Loveland Ski Area on the ski patrol in the winter.
He soon met Diane in Loveland, who was also working in food service at the ski resort, and they
fell in love and moved in together the day after their first date. They have been together ever
since and January 1st would be their 45th anniversary. They then moved to Vail, Colorado the
next year and he got a job doing masonry in the area. He borrowed $5,000 from his mother to
purchase a truck and a mixer and ultimately formed Vogelman West Masonry, Inc.
The business quickly expanded to employ 240 employees with work in Aspen, Vail, Steamboat
Springs, Colorado, Big Sky Montana and a project in Japan. The business flourished for 30 years
before the economy changed dramatically in 2008 and Kurt and Diane finished projects for the
next 3 years before closing shop.
They started spending time in Hawaii in 1999 and ultimately spent several months a year on
Maui. Their time was split between Colorado, Mexico and Maui until deciding in 2021 to make
their permanent residence on Maui.
Kurt had a great love of music. All kinds of music and would studying artists and music from all
corners of the world.
He and Diane loved their time exploring the world. Diane and Kurt windsurfed at favorite spots
like Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Corpus Christi. Kurt particularly loved traveling with
his hanai family and always seemed to be pushed to his limits in walking 30,000 steps in Cinque
Terra, Italy or eating at Dans le Noir (where you eat in the dark) and ended up covered with
food. A favorite spot was Rome, Italy where he couldn’t seem to get enough time there.
Kurt loved his various communities on Maui. His golf buddies from the Maui Country Club were
great friends exploring all the golf courses around Maui. His Iyangar yoga community was
always a source of peace and laughter.
Most recently, his time at the YMCA with his Parkinson’s class gave him a great amount of
satisfaction as he wrestled with this complex disease. He died quickly and peacefully on
Saturday, December 7, 2024.
Kurt is survived by his wife Diane, his chosen hanai family: Wade and Pasang Johnson, son Peter
and daughter Maya. Siblings Eric (Lavine) Vogelman, Carol Vogelman, Reid Vogelman.
Donations can be made in Kurt’s name to:
Maui Family, YMCA
Parkinson’s Program
250 Kanaloa Ave.
Kahului, HI 96732
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