Gil Gillenwater

Gil is a lifelong resident of Arizona. His earliest memories include hunting and fishing with his father where he developed an affinity for travel and a deep respect for the outdoors.

Gil attended Brigham Young and Rice universities on football scholarships and was graduated from Arizona State University. He worked in real estate investment structuring limited partnerships that purchased, zoned and sold over 10,000 acres of land in Arizona. In 1987 Gil founded the Rancho Feliz Charitable Foundation, Inc. In 2007 Gil wound down his real estate career and focused his energies on travel and philanthropy.

In addition to his charitable work on the border, Gil organizes and participates in Rancho Feliz’s grueling, multi-day, extreme sport/extreme karma, fund raising events. He is a recipient of the Hon Kachina Award, Arizona’s highest honor for volunteerism in addition to receiving the National Association of Realtors annual “Good Neighbor Award”, likewise honoring volunteerism. Gil is a black belt in Kenpo Karate and a certified Hot Yoga instructor. He is a life-long meditation practitioner with a keen interest in the mind and Eastern philosophies. An outdoorsman at heart, Gil has had countless wilderness adventures around the world. He has visited over 60 countries concentrating his travels in Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal and India. Gil and his brother Troy coauthored a book titled, Finding Tibet’s Hidden Falls: Revealing the World’s Final Geographic Mystery, chronicling their 1994, 1995 and 1997 expeditions into the “Hidden Lands” of Tibet. When not traveling or in México, Gil splits his time between Scottsdale and Flagstaff with his wife Izuru. His abiding maxim is: “He who dies having had the most fun wins.”

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