After a battle with cancer, attorney John Albert “Jay” Bauer of Summit County died March 2, as reported by the Summit Daily News. He was 65. Bauer, who worked for Bauer & Burns in Breckenridge, had a career that covered a wide spectrum of the law.

By Matt Masich, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — Al Meiklejohn, former Republican state senator and attorney with Jones & Keller, died last week at age 86. The Colorado Senate unanimously passed a memorial Monday honoring him for reaching across party lines to improve education and transportation in the state. Current and former senators shared their memories of Meiklejohn, who represented Arvada in the Senate from 1976 to 1996.
–Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminster, said “it’s rather ironic that it should be me up here sponsoring this memorial.” Hudak ran against the “wildly popular” Meiklejohn in 1992, losing the election 62 percent to 38 percent. Even some of Hudak’s friends confessed they supported Meiklejohn, she said. Hudak herself was “thankful that I had lost the election” when she saw what a strong advocate for education her former opponent was in the legislature. When Hudak called Meiklejohn to congratulate him on his election victory, he encouraged her to stay involved in politics. She took the advice to heart and won election to the Senate in 2008.
–Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, said his father, former Gov. Roy Romer, called Meiklejohn “someone who never let party affiliation get in the way of what was right for Colorado and what was right for kids.” Romer praised Meiklejohn’s two decades of service, and suggested he should have been allowed more. “Al Meiklejohn certainly stands for one of the best arguments ever for why term limits should not be put in place,” Romer said.
–Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, called Meiklejohn “a giant in the legislature on education issues,” and said he was a champion of school choice and home schooling.
–Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, said that when she was a school board member rather than a legislator, she would be “in awe” of Meiklejohn when she came before the Senate Education Committee to testify. Spence, along with several others who spoke, also remembered the prodigious number of cigarettes Meiklejohn smoked on the Senate floor and in committees, back in the old days.
–Sen. Moe Keller, D-Wheat Ridge, served with him on a higher education committee in the early 1990s when she was in the House. By that time, he had apparently replaced his smoking habit: “He would bring a bowl of candy to the meeting,” Keller said. “They were jolly ranchers. He would nervously fiddle with them and he’d unwrap one, and eat another — I never saw any one eat as much candy in an hour and a half.” On a more serious note, she called his leadership “unparalleled,” and added that “his memory is still mentoring.”
–Former Sen. Dottie Wham, a former colleague of Meiklejohn, joked that “he was one of the few lawyers that I trusted. He was a straight shooter” even if “you didn’t always like where he aimed.” When Wham spoke with Meiklejohn not long before he died, he gave her words of encouragement: “Don’t let the bastards get you down,” and “Give ‘em hell.
–Former Senate President Tom Norton, who served with Meiklejohn, said he absolutely hated the rare occasions when they disagreed on an issue. “He was a master of debate and I was an engineer,” he said.
–Former Sen. Norma Anderson worked closely with Meiklejohn on education issues. She recalls he would often “pound the table and say if we [don’t] have children learn to read by third grade, they will fail.’ He said it so many times. I finally said, ‘Senator, it’s time we carried a bill. We’re going to mandate that children learn by third grade or they’re not going on to fourth.’” She added, “Sen. Meiklejohn first and foremost fought for the children of this state.”
–Former Sen. Sue Windels remembered writing a letter education to Meiklejohn before she was a legislator. She was amazed when he called her to talk about it. Meiklejohn supported Windels when she ran for the legislature, even though they were from different parties. “If we could clone Al Meiklejohn and have 100 Al Meiklejohns, I’m sure we could solve so many problems in the this state — and have a lot of fun while doing it,” Windels said.

Al Meiklejohn

Services for longtime Colorado lawyer Al Meiklejohn, who retired from Colorado’s Senate in 1996, will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 4500 Wadsworth Blvd. Viewing will be from 4 to 7 p.m. today at Olinger Crown Hill Funeral Home, 7777 W. 29th Ave.
Meiklejohn was a Republican state senator for 20 years. At the time of his death, he was of counsel to Denver’s Jones & Keller. He died Monday while under hospice care at his Arvada home. He was 86.

The funeral for Faegre & Benson Partner Bob Matthews and his brother Mark Matthews will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 715 Cabrini Drive, Lafayette, the Boulder Daily Camera reports. The Matthews were killed last week when their plane collided with another over Boulder.

Bob Matthews

By Matt Masich, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — Bob Matthews, 58, litigation partner at Faegre & Benson’s Boulder office, was one of three people who died Saturday when the small plane he piloted collided with another plane over north Boulder.
A partner at the firm called Matthews a “leader” and “go-to guy in the office.”
Also killed in the collision were Mark Matthews, 56, who was a passenger in his brother Bob’s Cirrus SR20, and Alexander Gilmer, 25, the pilot of a Piper Pawnee. The Piper was towing a glider until moments before the collision, when the glider pilot disconnected. The glider pilot and two passengers safely landed.
The cause of the collision remains unknown. The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation expected to take eight to 10 months to complete.
Matthews leaves behind his wife, Cindy, three adult children and one grandchild. He was originally from Omaha, Neb., according to the Omaha World-Herald. He got a B.A. from the University of Nebraska in 1973 and earned his J.D. there in 1976. He was licensed to practice in Colorado in 1979.
Matthews joined Faegre & Benson in 2002 when the firm combined with Boulder’s Crisman Bynum & Johnson. Faegre had 21 attorneys in Boulder at the time of Matthews’ death.
“Bob had been here the longest through both of those firms,” said Neal Cohen, Matthews’ friend and colleague. “He was one of those guys that everybody loved. He was certainly the leader of the Boulder office that everybody looked up to.”
Matthews was a respected civil litigator, earning recognition last year as a “Colorado Super Lawyer.” He successfully defended StorageTek in a $2 billion breach of contract suit and won summary judgment for his client in a legal malpractice suit against Snell & Wilmer. Matthews regularly advised fellow litigators on their cases.
“I don’t think I ever had a case where I didn’t go sit down with him on several occasions to kick things around,” Cohen said. “This office is a very tight, collegial family of lawyers and staff and Bob had a lot to do with the creation of that attitude around here.”
A memorial will be held Saturday in Boulder.
“Today is a very tough day,” Cohen said Monday, the first workday after the fatal crash. “Not a lot of work getting done. Hugging and crying. The whole office is going to have a big lunch today to laugh and cry together and tell stories.”
Cohen said Matthews loved adventure and introduced a wide circle of friends to activities like scuba diving, sailing, flying and rafting.
“He was constantly doing stuff — fun stuff, terrific stuff — and brought everyone along with him. Bob was sort of the galvanizer of all that, the organizer.”
Matthews played basketball in college, Cohen said. One of his favorite pastimes in recent years was playing with his two sons on a league basketball team.

Former Colorado Chief Justice William Erickson, who chaired the Columbine Review Commission and also headed a panel that investigated a controversial Denver police shooting, died Wednesday. He was 85 and suffered from Parkinson’s disease, The Denver Post reports.

Matt J. Kikel, a former Pueblo County district attorney and chief judge of the 10th Judicial District, Matt J. Kikel, died during the weekend. He was 88. A Crested Butte native, Kikel’s law career began in Pueblo in 1947. He was elected district attorney in 1956 and won re-election in 1960, The Pueblo Chieftain reported.

Edward A. Walsh, 94, former in-house counsel for Great Western Sugar Co. and Denver private-practice attorney, died Nov. 18 following a stroke. A memorial service was in Lutz, Fla.

LAW WEEK COLORADO
Howard E. Parks Jr. died Nov. 7. He was a retired attorney registered in Colorado from 1953 to 1996.
He graduated Class of ‘47 at East High School, Princeton University, and University of Denver College of Law. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1953 to 1955.
He is survived by daughter Emily and son-in-law Rory Andrykowski.
In keeping with Parks’ tradition of contributing to educational scholarships as well as other charities, you may make a memorial donation in his name to the charity of your choice.

LAW WEEK COLORADO
David John Dunbar of Westminster died Nov. 5.
He was the retired chief regional attorney for U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. His federal service totaled 21 years.
Previously, he was counsel to U.S. Dept of Education Appeals Board in Washington, D.C., after an early career in Indian rights law. Services were Nov. 16 at Fort Logan National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be sent to The Elephant Sanctuary, P.O. Box 393, Hohenwald, TN 38462; or the American Diabetes or American Heart associations.