Dean Behse

Raised in La Cañada, California, Dean Behse attended Colorado College for two years before he decided not to continue his pre-engineering program. He found work as an office manager on Peter Kiewit Sons’ Southwest District’s Air Defense Command Building project in Colorado Springs. There he worked with David Boyd, Jack Grieger, Alan Murk, and Ralph Tice, all of whom would follow Charlie Pankow when he started his company in 1963.

In the fall of 1962, Behse returned to school, matriculating at Oregon State University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with a specialty in structures and a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. On June 18, 1966, he and his wife, Carolyn, were married in McMinnville, Oregon.

On July 5, 1966, Behse joined Charles Pankow, Inc. He may well have been the company’s first college graduate hire.

Behse worked on two projects developed by Winmar Corporation, the real estate arm of Safeco Insurance, which became Pankow’s most important client for more than two decades: the May D&F department store in Denver, Colorado, and a 13-story office building in Bellevue, Washington, for Pacific Car and Foundry Company, now known as PACCAR, Inc. Behse was the field engineer in Denver and the project engineer in Bellevue. He also oversaw the remodel of the building at 2476 North Lake Avenue in Altadena, California, that became the company’s headquarters.

Behse left Pankow as the Bellevue project was topping out to manage the development of a condominium complex in Sun Valley, Idaho. When the project bankrupted the developer, he went to work as a project manager for the Sun Valley Company.

From 1976 to 1992, Behse worked for the Safecare Company, managing the construction of nursing homes, hospitals, and medical facilities. When Safecare’s parent company, Safeco Insurance, closed the business, Behse went to work for himself as a building developer and owner. He and his wife live in Sacramento, California.