Chuy Medrano passed away on March 14, 2025, at the age of 70. Medrano was the co-founder and owner of CoCal Landscape, based in Denver, Colorado.
Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, Medrano was the oldest of eight siblings and only finished the third grade before he began working to help support his family. He took whatever jobs he could and ended up in New Mexico, where he picked the seeds out of red chilies.
Traveling to Denver, he eventually found his passion in landscaping, and in 1991, Tom Fochtman approached Medrano about starting a landscape company with him.
Fochtman still recalls the first time he met Medrano, who was shoulder-deep in the mud fixing a mainline break on a property when he visited Denver for an interview with ValleyCrest.
“When we drove off, I very well remember the branch manager saying, ‘This guy’s got a ton of potential,’” Fochtman says.
Fochtman saw Medrano’s potential as well. He told his wife he would not start the company unless Medrano agreed to be his partner. After giving it some thought, Medrano agreed, and they started the business in December 1992. Medrano handled the ops side of the business.
“He was the voice of the field workers,” says Carlos Medrano, one of Chuy’s sons and a manager with CoCal. “He was the face of the people.”
Medrano was a strong advocate for his people. He worked to create a place where his employees could thrive and grow, as well as feel safe away from their home. Many of CoCal’s team members have been with the company for 20+ years.
“He knew that not only did his family depend on CoCal, but many countless families depended on their employment at CoCal,” says Mari Medrano, Chuy’s daughter and human resources director for CoCal. “He carried a heavy burden of many people on his shoulders, but that made him happy. It was always about the people with Chuy.”
CoCal joined NALP in the first year they started the business, and they also won an Award of Excellence that same year.
“Nobody knew who we were, but people knew Chuy pretty quickly, because he was very gregarious, and he always wore a cowboy hat,” Fochtman says. “He was never without a cowboy hat.”
In 2011, Medrano founded the National Hispanic Landscape Alliance (NHLA) and served as the first president of NHLA. He was also one of twenty winners of the 2014 Hispanicize Positive Impact Award, which recognizes those who contribute selflessly for the betterment of their communities.
Medrano cared deeply about helping people in any way he could, whether that meant lending equipment or mentoring small business owners. He even supported an orphanage in his hometown of Chihuahua. He was also a platinum scholarship ambassador of the NALP Foundation.
Medrano served on the NALP Foundation Board for several years, starting in 2018, and was also an NALP Trailblazer.
In 2021, Medrano received the Bob Cannon Lifetime Achievement Award from the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado for being a tireless advocate for the landscape industry at the local, state and national levels.
Throughout his career, Medrano advocated for the H-2B program as well as the importance of training up-and-coming leaders.
“We were always at career days,” Fochtman says. “We always had interns. He was very supportive of all those initiatives. He knew that we needed young leadership to follow in what would become our footsteps as we matured; we needed to backfill with young leaders. He very much knew and believed that.”
Aside from his cowboy hat, Medrano was known for his smile, outgoing nature, and genuineness. Fochtman says Medrano mentored and inspired him throughout his entire career.
“He was the best that he could be with the skill set he had and made a difference in the Hispanic community and in the landscape industry,” Fochtman says.
Described as kind, charming, and funny, Medrano was a very loving person who had many friends in the industry. Carlos says his father would often joke with people saying, “Si no fueras mio lo compraba” which translates to ‘If you weren’t mine, I would buy you.” Medrano would say that with love, letting people know they belonged in his circle.
“He would start meetings or end meetings with jokes,” Mari says. “He always was a joke teller for safety meetings or any type of meeting, and if he wouldn’t tell a joke, the team would ask him for one.”
Medrano valued his family most of all.
“He sacrificed for his family,” Mari says. “For his wife, for his kids, for his parents, for his siblings, for his extended family.”
Mari says her father taught her and her siblings to be proud of their culture, their background, and to never hide.
“I believe many of Chuy’s values and qualities are reflected in Jody, Carlos and myself,” Mari says. “Us three make up one of Chuy, and we will work hard to live up to his legacy and through our work here at CoCal and personally, he will live on. We will work for the rest of our lives to make him even more proud of us than he already was.”
Medrano is survived by his wife, Maria Lourdes; his four children: son Jesus and wife, Maria, son Carlos and wife, Jodie, daughter Marisol and husband, Sergio, and daughter Valerie; his 11 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren, three brothers and four sisters.
