Redefining Pay it Forward: How an extraordinary act of faculty support led to an extraordinary gift

The likelihood of John Montaña attending college and achieving a noteworthy professional career seemed  highly improbable.  Hailing from the tough environment of Walsenburg, Colorado, where his family had a history of working in mining and labor, college was not a feasible choice. In fact, for the first three decades of his life, John held a succession of physically taxing and modestly compensated positions, such as a janitor, warehouse worker, truck driver, and laborer.  

It was the combination of a recession and a scarcity of job opportunities that prompted John to apply to Metropolitan State College (now Metropolitan State University). Despite confessing to feeling “clueless about how it all worked and what I was supposed to do,” he nevertheless managed to thrive as a geology major. To help support himself, Montaña took a work study job for music professor Glenn Yarberry, Ph.D., which involved setting up stands and chairs for rehearsals and performances. Over time, he developed a relationship with Yarberry and visiting fellow trombonist Murray Blumenthal, Ph.D., a psychologist who taught at DU’s Sturm College of Law.

When Montaña achieved a high score on the LSAT and decided to apply to law school, Yarberry willingly offered to write a recommendation on his behalf and asked Blumenthal to do the same. 

Yet, Yarberry and Blumenthal went well beyond crafting recommendation letters. They successfully secured a significant financial aid package, granting Montana a full-ride scholarship. This invaluable support enabled him to attend and graduate from Sturm, establish a legal consulting and trial lawyer career, and launch his own firm specializing in legal records, record retention, and information governance. Today, Montaña and Associates, now part of the Berkshire Hathaway companies, stands as a global leader in the information management consultancy field.  While officially retired as CEO, John remains an active contributor to  the industry. As co-founder of Friends of Guéoul, a non-profit that supports the education of young women in Guѐoul, Senegal and prepares them for higher education and leadership roles, John’s impact extends beyond business into global and local philanthropy. 

Although both Glenn Yarberry and Murray Blumenthal are now deceased, John has remained unwaveringly grateful for the life-changing support and kindness they provided to make his Sturm education possible. Reflecting on their guidance, he shared “When I asked how I could thank them, they told me to pay it forward,” he notes. Remaining faithful to their counsel, John has dedicated a $1,500,000 bequest to fund the Blumenthal-Yarberry Endowed Scholarship Fund. This substantial contribution aims to enable deserving students to pursue a Sturm legal education for generations to come, instilling the expectation that they, like John Montaña, will embrace the challenge to pay it forward.