There is a reason why there is more than one “Loup” in the following sentence. Bob Loup will receive the Hineni Award from the Robert E. Loup JCC next Wednesday. The reason is obvious to anyone who has lived in Denver over the previous decades: Bob Loup is an icon in this community.
There is a long list of organizations that Loup has led, certainly not least the JCC itself when it was in dire straits and when, it is likely, it was only Bob Loup who could have led the team to enable it to survive. On that long list are local organizations and national ones, and Bob Loup’s involvement, as often as not, falls under the category of “founder.”
It is no exaggeration to say than when it comes to what are now called JEWISHcolorado and Kavod Senior Life, Bob Loup was a founder of the organization or its headquarters. To that, add Loup’s name as a founder of Shalom Park and the Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East at DU. To that, add Loup’s name as national chairman of the United Jewish Appeal when it was in its heyday. Honestly, when it comes to Bob Loup, we confess that we might well have missed certain areas of leadership that riveted him. The word ubiquitous was invented for Bob Loup. He has been everywhere in this community. If ever there were a Jewish Denverite for whom the word “visionary” fits, it is Bob Loup.
But even all this does not cover the topic — doesn’t even begin to cover the topic. When the topic is Bob Loup, the topic is more than vision, and even more than generosity and inspiration. When it comes to Bob Loup, the topic is heart. The topic is wearing it on your sleeve — belief in the eternity of the Jewish people. The topic is privilege, as in the privilege of being a Jew who witnessed the creation of the State of Israel. The topic is gratitude. The topic is passing it on. The topic, one might say, as Abraham our forefather said in response to being called by G-d Alm-ghty, is “Hineni!” Here I am!
Bob Loup will be honored next week for answering, and for showing countless others how to answer, the call. However many people join him at the dinner next Wednesday, it will be but drop in the bucket of the number of people whose lives that his activism, sincerity and leadership have changed.
Copyright © 2016 by the Intermountain Jewish News
