“It has been my life’s passion to make education accessible to more people,” Jones said at the time.
Jones first got involved in distance education in 1987, when he started a cable TV network called Mind Extension University, which offered college courses via television. He moved the effort online in 1993 with the opening of Jones University, which became the first accredited online-only university in 1999, according to the school.
Jones International University announced in April it would be closing in 2016 due to declining enrollment and competition.
In recent years, Jones had also been working on a major development proposal — his first — for 42 acres of land that he assembled over the years in Centennial.
The Jones District, named in Jones’ honor, will be a mixed-use development with apartments, office space and retail next to the Panorama Corporate Center.
Peter Coakley, general manager at Opus Development Co., which is overseeing the project, said he still remembers the evening he spent with Jones celebrating the deal, with Jones regaling the group with stories about his first cable system in Georgetown and his time as a Navy diver.
Before going to law school, Jones served for five years in the U.S. Navy, specializing as an underwater bomb disposal frogman.
“He was a man of many interests, a keen intellect, a very humble guy but also an entertaining guy,” Coakley said. “He was a very beguiling person and a wonderful person to spend some time with.”
Jones and his longtime partner, Dianne Eddolls, were also active in the Denver philanthropic community, serving on a number of boards and committees.
John C. Malone, a cable magnate and chairman of the board of Liberty Global, said Jones was “one of the really good guys in the history of the cable business.”
” He was very inventive and extremely creative in developing all kinds of service businesses off the cable industry base,” Malone said in an e-mail. “Whenever anyone was asked to stand up for the industry, Glenn was first in line.”
Comcast Corp. CEO Brian L. Roberts called Jones “a true entrepreneur and pioneer.”
“His creativity and passion to help people learn and advance through technology was ahead of many others,” Roberts said.
