Buzz Kolbe Scholarship Fund

William Kolbe Obituary

William "Buzz" Butterfield Kolbe passed away peacefully to meet his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on August 1, 2024, at the age of 69, surrounded by loved ones after a courageous battle against liver and kidney failure. He was born in Passaic, New Jersey on November 9, 1954, the son of Karl William (Bill) Kolbe and Barbara Bogart Kolbe.

Buzz grew up in Montclair, New Jersey, graduated high school from The Hun School of Princeton (New Jersey), and received his BA in sociology and psychology from Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado. He earned numerous certifications in leadership training, professional etiquette and corporate coaching and was a highly regarded and sought after leadership development facilitator and life coach.

Buzz began his professional career in the technology industry as Regional Facilities Manager at NORTEL (Northern Telecom, Inc.) in Englewood, Colorado overseeing the purchasing department. He later served as Operations Manager at Rush Creek Solutions in Denver, Colorado where his responsibilities included employee relations and customer service. In 1998, he relocated to Plano, Texas where he was hired as Director of Business Services at XO Communications (NEXTLINK Southwest) in Dallas. This position required Buzz to coach multiple teams in various departments to improve processes, performance and outcomes. It also led him to realize his true passion, personal and corporate coaching and leadership development.

In October 1999, Buzz started Leading WIN, LLC, through which he was able to use his unique skills and business experience to coach clients to find life balance in their work, relationships, finances, spirituality, health and emotional wellbeing. He was a graduate of Leadership Plano Class 18 and was executive director of the program from 2007 to 2011. He also provided leadership development training and coaching to the UT Dallas MBA Program, Leadership McKinney, Leadership Allen and Leadership Wylie. For over twenty years, his training sessions in leadership development, communication skills, emotional intelligence, etiquette, high performance teams, and meeting facilitation made an immeasurable impact on individuals, nonprofit boards, and corporate teams locally and nationally.

Buzz not only used his talents to teach others how to be effective leaders, he "walked the talk." He served on numerous nonprofit boards and advisory committees in Colorado and Texas, including the Denver Youth Program, Embrace Texas, CASA of Collin County, Arts of Collin County, CITY House, Plano Symphony Orchestra, the Plano Chamber of Commerce, Junior League of Collin County and the International Coach Federation-North Texas, often as chair of the organization.

Memories of Buzz will be cherished by his two devoted sisters, Kim Kolbe of Roseland, New Jersey and Katie Kolbe of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He will also be forever remembered by dear friends and extended family whose lives he touched in immeasurable ways in Colorado, Maine, Martha's Vineyard, Oklahoma, New Jersey, and North Texas. He was an active member of his faith community at Christ Church Plano, serving on the Vestry from 2003-2007. A memorial service will be held on September 23, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. in the chapel at Christ Church - 4550 Legacy Drive, Plano, Texas 75024.

To honor Buzz's memory, at his request in lieu of flowers, a donation is suggested to one of the following: Christ Church Plano (with memo "In Memory of Buzz Kolbe"; see address above); Embrace Texas (or any of the many nonprofits Buzz impacted); or either of the two leadership programs where an annual scholarship has been established in Buzz's memory - Leadership Plano (qtego.us/donate/bksf ) or Leadership McKinney.