The co-founder of Purgatory Ski Resort was awarded a spot among Colorado’s most successful business figures Thursday night when he was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame.

Ray Duncan was one of six honored at the event.

Duncan, 81, first made his mark in the natural-gas and oil industry. He founded Duncan Oil and was inducted into the Rocky Mountain Oil & Gas Hall of Fame in 2004.

A ski aficionado, Duncan moved to Durango in 1958. Finding nowhere nearby to practice his turns, he started, in 1965, what’s now Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort. Later, he became chairman of the board of Colorado Ski Country USA and in 2006 was inducted into the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.

But he didn’t stop his pursuits at the ski mountain. Duncan moved farther west and bought 750 acres of farmland in northern California. He created Silver Oak Winery in 1972, and the winery’s cabernet sauvignon, aged in a dairy barn on the property, eventually created a name for itself. Building off that success, in 1999 Duncan founded a second California winery, Twomey Cellars.

Beyond the business world, Duncan is a member of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center’s board of trustees and supports the Denver Art Museum, Kent Denver school and his alma mater, Notre Dame.

The Colorado Business Hall of Fame is produced by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain. Each year it honors the state’s top business and civic leaders. The other Hall of Fame laureates are brewing maven Pete Coors, American Furniture Warehouse owner Jacob Jabs, former corporate executive J. Landis Martin and ski shop founders and influential Vail Valley residents David and Renie Gorsuch.

ecowan@durangoherald.com