Steve Farber

Steven Farber, a Denver attorney and national-level lobbyist whose impact on the Jewish community and Denver in general will be felt for decades, passed away March 4, 2020 at the age of 76.

An estimated 1,500 people attended Farber’s funeral on March 8 at Temple Emanuel, officiated by Rabbi Joseph Black and Cantor Elizabeth Sacks, which followed a private burial at Emanuel Cemetery. Feldman Mortuary made the arrangements.

The list of those who gave eulogies at Sunday’s service reads like a Who’s Who of Colorado’s political leadership over recent decades: Former US Senators Hank Brown and Ken Salazar, US Senator Michael Bennet, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, former Colorado governors Roy Romer and John Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.

Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb spoke and read a letter from President Bill and Secretary Hillary Clinton. In Congress, US Congresswoman Diana DeGette read a tribute for Farber that she placed in the Congressional Record.

Also speaking were Farber’s three sons, Gregg, Brent and Brad Farber, his brother-in-law Rick Sapkin and Norman Brownstein, his lifelong friend and partner in the Denver law firm that they turned into a national lobbying powerhouse.

Rabbi Steven Foster, rabbi emeritus of Temple Emanuel, a friend of Farber’s for half a century, also spoke to mourners on Sunday.

A native and lifelong resident of Denver, Farber was born Sept. 21, 1943. His father worked for a Denver produce wholesale firm and his mother worked for the May Co. department stores. Raised in Denver’s West Side Jewish community in a family of humble means, he was schooled at Colfax Elementary, Lake Junior High and North High School — the traditional schools for West Side Jewish kids of that era.

He married the former Cindy Cook in 1971.

Farber completed his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Colorado in 1968 and soon thereafter founded Brownstein Hyatt & Farber, partnering with Jack Hyatt, who passed away in 2017, and Brownstein, a close friend whom Farber first met on a school playground on the West Side when both were boys. Actually, the two were more than friends. Brownstein, an orphan who lived in a foster home in the neighborhood, often stayed at the Farber family residence and considered him his brother.

The firm — now in its 52nd year and named Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck — practices in a wide variety of legal specialties and became known nationally for its effectiveness as a lobbying force, involved in dozens of national and local political campaigns as well as such public works projects as Denver’s Mile High Stadium and Pepsi Center sports and entertainment venues.

Farber was instrumental in raising funds to bring the Democratic National Convention to Denver in 2008, serving as co-chair of the convention’s host committee, and helped negotiate the city’s lease with United Airlines at the then-new Denver International Airport in the 1990s.

He also served as an attorney for the Denver Broncos.

It was mainly through its work in lobbying that the firm earned its national profile and significant financial success. According to the Denver Post, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck earned more than $25.7 million in federal lobbying revenue in 2015.

“Steve was often the first call CEOs, politicians and community leaders made because they knew he would find a way to get the job done,” Brownstein told the Post last week. “Our ability to thrive as a firm for more than 50 years is a testament to Steve’s leadership, work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit.”

Farber was an active leader in Denver’s Jewish community for much of his life, holding lay leadership positions at the Allied Jewish Federation (JEWISHcolorado), Rose Medical Center, Rose Community Foundation, the Anti-Defamation League and other organizations.

In the community-at-large, he supported the Barbara Davis Diabetes Center for more than 30 years and Denver Health for decades, among many other organizations.

Among the many community honors Farber earned were the Del Hock Lifetime Achievement Award from Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce in 2004; Barbara Davis High Hopes Award in 2007; Rocky Mountain News Businessperson of the Year Award in 2008; and the CU William Lee Knous Award in 2016, shared with Brownstein.

One of his most personal community involvements followed a medical crisis in 2005, when kidney failure forced Farber to undergo a kidney transplant, with his son Gregg ultimately serving as the organ donor for his father.

Farber described the experience in the 2009 book On The List, co-authored with Harlan Abrahams, which articulated his views on the rights and wrongs of the nation’s organ transplant procedures and put forward his own ideas on how to improve the system. He also launched his own nonprofit, the American Transplant Foundation, to increase awareness of the need for organ donations.

“Steve believed that no one should die while waiting for a lifesaving transplant,” the foundation said in a statement last week, according to the Denver Post. “Through his own struggle of trying to find a living donor due to kidney failure, he realized how much needed to be done to help save lives here in America.”

Farber’s longtime friend, Rabbi Foster, spoke to the Intermountain Jewish News last week about a man “who had a very modest upbringing” and went on to experience a highly unusual level of personal and professional success.

“He was very driven, very focused in his life,” the rabbi said. “He certainly became very successful financially, there’s no question about that, but it wasn’t that he was after money. He was after something else.”

Farber wanted a legacy of caring for the community and about people, especially his family, Rabbi Foster says.

“He did it in a lot of ways. He was committed to so many organizations in our community. He cared about people and tried to change lives through the political process. He worked behind the scenes to make sure that people’s lives are better.”

Farber was an extrovert who enjoyed his public persona but he was modest and down-to-earth at the same time, in the rabbi’s view. “He understood that he was a public person but he understood it as an obligation.”

Rabbi Foster said that Farber never failed to return a phone call from him or his wife, Joyce, even when he was busy or on vacation, which was a signature characteristic of the man.

“He was someone you could count on as needed. Other people meant a lot in his life and he was always willing to show that in the way he responded. He saw himself as a person who would give service for others. He wanted to create a comfort zone for people, not just for the organizations, but for Denver and Colorado.”

Rabbi Foster said he is uncomfortable applying the label “power broker” — which has already appeared in a number of tributes and obituaries about Farber — because he considers it a pejorative, even it if isn’t meant that way.

“I think he saw himself as being obligated to being involved. Yes, he was a powerful guy, but he felt an obligation to give back to the community. It wasn’t just what he got out of it.”

The rabbi added that Farber considered his reputation and influence a “privilege,” he says.

“But he earned it. He and Norm built that firm and they earned their reputation, but Steve saw it as an obligation to pay back to the community. He had the sense that he owed the community something.”

Farber is survived by his wife Cindy Cook Farber; sons Gregg Farber, Brent (Julie) Farber and Brad (Karly) Farber; his sister Sharon (Stan) Loosemore; and grandchildren Andie, Riley, Blake, Ruby, Jake and James.

The family suggests that memorial contributions be made to the American Transplant Foundation.

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