By Erika Usui

Jerry Kopel

Jerry Kopel ('51) rarely did his homework and found his journalism classes to be boring. Carrying only a C average, Kopel was informed by College of Journalism director A. Gayle Waldrop that perhaps he should try some other field.

Kopel didn't take the director's advice. He not only kept his major, he stayed on the staff of the then-daily Silver and Gold, where he eventually became city editor, then managing editor and chief editorial writer.

"I absorbed what I learned in class, but I was too busy (with) the hands-on work of putting out a newspaper to prepare for tests," Kopel said. He was elected chairman of the CU chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, the national journalism fraternity, which he said gave him his first taste of politics.

He said his most influential journalism professor was Vic Danilov, who became a close friend. Danilov went on to become a magazine editor, textbook author and director of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. He retired to Boulder, directing CU's museum management program.

In 1955, after working for the Walsenburg World Independent, Colorado Springs Free Press and Rocky Mountain News, Kopel finally decided to consider the director's advice – partially.

Kopel returned to academics in the field of law at the University of Denver. Yet he didn't give up on journalism, as he worked night shifts at the Rocky Mountain News as a copy editor. He graduated cum laude three years later with a law degree. In 1958, he began tutoring law students who were preparing to take bar exams. Eventually, he hired a number of other attorneys and law professors. He sold the business in 1985.

"At that time, about half of the attorneys in the state had been my students," he said.

From then on, Kopel has used his practical experiences in journalism and his law degree to influence Denver as an avid Democrat and attorney. He was elected state representative in 1964, and served through 1992 except for two terms he lost and one two-year time-out.

He successfully carried 110 bills as chief sponsor, including the nation's first sunset law, he said. "I read every bill and every amendment that came before the House," Kopel wrote. "I continued to be a copy editor amending almost every bill that came up for debate."

He said the Denver Public Library plans to make his legislative papers available to the public in its Western History section.

Now 77, Kopel has been a columnist for The Colorado Statesman newspaper in Denver ever since he left the state legislature, winning six Colorado Press Association awards. All of his 600-some columns were edited by his wife, Delores. Their son, David, is an attorney and author who is a columnist for the Rocky Mountain News.

Although Kopel is retired, he still prepares weekly reports for House Democrats and suggests amendments to bills being debated. His Web site is at www.jerrykopel.com. A pianist who performed on KBOL-AM radio while he was a CU student, Kopel continues to record CDs to give to his friends. jerrykopel@aol.com