Herrick Roth, a longtime Denver labor and political leader, died Jan. 31 at a care center in Denver. He was 91.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Wellshire Presbyterian Church, 2999 S. Colorado Blvd.
Roth, who started out as a middle-school teacher, went on to serve in both houses of the state legislature, head the Colorado Labor Council and found the Colorado Forum — now a 30-year-old organization of business leaders working to influence public policy.
“He was remarkable at bringing disparate kinds of people together, and he was a good listener,” said Gail Klapper, a Denver lawyer who succeeded Roth as director of the Colorado Forum.
“He always believed that people had the obligation to make the world a better place,” said Steve Knight, who was a partner with Roth in a consulting firm from 1989 to 1996.
Roth “was one of those rare individuals who put his whole being on the line for a cause,” Knight said. “Unlike so many activists, he wasn’t irritating — he brought people together.”
Roth was president of the Colorado Labor Council of the AFL-CIO from 1962 to 1973. He was removed from the position by the national president, George Meany, after the Colorado chapter endorsed George McGovern for president in 1972.
Years later, Roth had a short career as head of the Colorado Labor and Employment Office when Dick Lamm was governor.
News stories said Roth had tried to revamp the department and he told a reporter at the time, “I don’t think the bureaucracy of government is ready for innovative people.”
Lamm, who was unavailable for comment Thursday, said at the time that it was a “personal agony” for him to ask Roth to resign.
Herrick Smith Roth was born March 16, 1916, in Omaha. His parents divorced and he was reared primarily by his grandparents in Hot Springs, S.D., said his son Alan Roth, of Denver.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education at the University of Denver.
Teaching at Smiley and Morey middle schools was interrupted by World War II.
Roth was a member of the Army Signal Corps, and one of his duties was to list the missing after the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
Roth met Marjorie Land on a blind date, and they married on April 25, 1941.
Roth was in the Colorado House in 1949-50 and the state Senate in 1957-60. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate Democratic nomination in 1974.
In addition to his wife and son Alan, he is survived by two other sons: Wayne Roth, of Seattle, and Martin Roth, of Holyoke; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
