Holly Coors, philanthropist, political activist and ex-wife of brewery magnate Joseph Coors, died Sunday at her home in Golden after a long illness. She was 88.

A doyenne of the conservative movement, Mrs. Coors served as a board member of more than a dozen foundations and organizations. She also represented the United States internationally through appointments by former President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush.

A 1996 Rocky Mountain News article described her as a "beguiling blonde, who is the closest thing to perpetual motion that most of us will ever see."

Born Holland Hanson on Aug. 25, 1920, in Bangor, Maine, she moved to New York City to model and was considering a career as a fashion designer when she met Joe Coors in Nantucket, Mass. They married and had five sons, Joe Jr., Jeff, Pete, Grover and John. Their 47-year marriage ended in divorce in 1988.

For many years, Mrs. Coors split her time between Colorado and Washington, where she had a condo at the Watergate. She loved to host and attend parties and social events and was devoted to her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

"She just loved life and life loved her right back again," said Sally Rippey, executive director of the Adolph Coors Foundation, where Mrs. Coors served as a board member. "She was beautiful. She was the kind of person everybody loved to be around."

Mrs. Coors was active on the board of the Heritage Foundation, the conservative group her late ex-husband helped create.

"She was obviously very conservative and very into conservative public policy," said Phillip Truluck, longtime executive vice president of the Washington-based think tank. "Nobody played a more important role in getting us started than they did."

Mrs. Coors was appointed goodwill ambassador for the Western Hemisphere by Reagan. The former president also appointed her to the Board of Visitors of the Air Force Academy in 1984, where she served two terms.

Bush appointed Mrs. Coors to the White House Fellows Commission.

Mrs. Coors was founder and president of Women of our Hemisphere Achieving Together, which focused on developing countries and emphasized providing aid and support to the women of Central America and the Dominican Republic.

She was also a founding member of the Friends of the First Ladies, which recently opened the new First Ladies Hall at the American History Museum in Washington, D.C.

She is survived by her five sons, 28 grandchildren and 24 great- grandchildren.

A service will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. John's Cathedral in Denver.

Donations may be made to the Holland Foundation in care of the AMG Charitable Gift Foundation, 6501 E. Belleview Ave., No. 400, Englewood, CO 80111.

Holland "Holly" Coors

1920-2009

Known as a volunteer, philanthropist and conservative political activist, Mrs. Coors also was a socialite, both here and in the nation's capital.

The Rocky Mountain News covered a soiree she held in 1996. An excerpt follows:

"No one knows the heartbeat of Washington, D.C., any better than Colorado's Holland H. Coors, who honored her all-time favorite saint, Valentine, at a black-tie dinner dance on Feb. 14 at the Sheraton Carlton Hotel.

Romance was in the air as 100 of Holly's nearest and dearest from all over the country surrendered to the spell of hearts and flowers as they gathered in the opulent crystal ballroom. You could hear a diamond pin drop when Holly drifted through the room wearing crimson chiffon palazzo pants topped with a satin jacket boasting rhinestone buttons.

Everywhere you looked there was someone rich or famous, and in many cases both."