Nearly $90K raised to assist Max family

FORT COLLINS» The Colorado State community has responded to tragedy with an abundance of giving.

CSU’s athletic department suffered unimaginable heartbreak when Rachael Max, the 32-year-old daughter of longtime athletics administrator Doug Max, was killed in an Oct. 8 house fire at her parents’ Fort Collins residence. In response, the university’s compliance department set up a GoFundMe web page to accept donations as the Max family faces a steep emotional and financial burden moving forward.

The site has been active now for 15 days, and as of late Wednesday it had collected $86,345 from 609 individual donations. The school is also hosting a fundraiser Thursday in partnership with New Belgium at the on-campus stadium porch. From 4:30-7:30 p.m., the brewery will donate $4 toward the Max family assistance fund for every pint purchased during its weekly happy-hour event.

“I think it just shows what a special place Colorado State is,” CSU football coach Mike Bobo said. “When somebody is hurting in your family, that people come to aid of that person who is a Colorado State Ram.”

Added athletic director Joe Parker: “In a lot of ways, I’m not surprised by the community response.”

Doug Max was hired as CSU’s track coach in 1980 and has served the athletic department in some capacity in each of the past four decades. He is a Greeley native who earned a bachelor’s degree from CSU in 1975. He is joined by his wife, Cindy, and two children, Jordan and Joel, in the grieving process.

“How are they doing? That’s always hard to say,” Parker said. “Everyone manages those things differently. Doug is a very warm, totally professional person, and I know this week they’ve been focusing on the challenges of losing a daughter even still and the logistics of managing some form of normalcy.

“They don’t have a home. That’s a basic need. They’re trying to figure that out right now.”