Beta-Omicron Chapter of Kappa Sigma

As a businessman, phianthropist and family man, Brother Nelson is a true Denver original. A graduate of Englewood High School, he attended DU to play both football and baseball, and pledged Beta-Omicron in 1947. Though he was forced to quit the football team after injuring his knee, Brother Nelson continued to play baseball and serve as grand master of Beta-Omicron. After graduating with a degree in engineering in 1950, Brother Nelson worked for Johns Manville, where he stayed for twelve years before starting his own business, Nelson Pipeline Constructors. It was with this company that Brother Nelson made his mark professionally. As the Denver-based company provided pipeline for both residential and business areas, Brother Nelson became incredibly successful. The company handled numerous large clients in the Denver area, and laid the entire pipeline underneath Denver International Airport. Brother Nelson has since retired, and enjoys spending time at his home on Mount Evans, west of Denver. But where most people’s stories would end, Brother Nelson’s begins. Following retirement, Brother Nelson and his wife, Shirley, have donated numerous large sums of money to DU’s athletic department and residence hall program. They donated $2 million to help build DU’s Nelson Hall, which is located at 2222 S. High Street. The five-story building broke ground on Valentine’s Day — ideal for the two college sweethearts — and opened at the beginning of the 2002 school year. Nelson Hall, just the third DU dormitory built in the past 35 years, accommodates more than 400 third- and fourth-year students and is designed to support DU’s living learning communities concept, in which students with common interests live on the same floor. The majority of the rooms are arranged in suites, with the top floor designed as apartment-style units. “That’s probably the best contribution to Kappa Sig and DU,” Brother Gene Steinke ’47 said. Brother Nelson has remained active in Beta-Omicron as an alumnus. He is still a regular fixture at the annual founder’s day luncheon. Brother Nelson and Shirley have two adult children, 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.