Jim Poole, Pueblo businessman and longtime civic leader, died Oct. 17 at his Pueblo home. He was 72. He had battled cancer for several years.
Poole, who had an investment business, James. F. Poole Associates Inc., for more than 40 years, was a fixture in Pueblo.
“Everyone knew him,” said former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb. “He was known out-state as well as in Pueblo, whether it was Democrat political events or social causes. He was doing whatever needed to be done, whether it was fundraising, writing a check or giving cocktail parties. He was a real asset to the Pueblo community.”
Poole served on the state insurance board under former Gov. Dick Lamm, was a member of the Colorado State Centennial Commission, a delegate to several state Democratic conventions and treasurer of the Colorado Democratic Party.
In Pueblo he was on the Pueblo African American Concern Organization, the Spanish Peaks Mental Health Center board, the city planning and zoning commission and the Arkansas River Project.
Poole also was a singer. He sang at former Gov. Roy Romer’s first inauguration and was a soloist at local weddings and other events. “Singing was like talking, to him,” said his wife, Marty Poole.
Poole “had a breadth of knowledge and could talk to anyone,” said his daughter Stephanie Poole-Byrd of Chicago.
He never discussed racial problems, except to tell his children, “Don’t let prejudice get in your way,” said his daughter Heather Poole of Pueblo.
“He had a lot of self-determination,” said Poole-Byrd. “He told us ‘the worst thing that happens to you could be the best thing that happens to you if you don’t let it get the best of you.’ ”
Poole was handy at repairing things around the house but only if he could use hangers or duct tape, said his daughters.
“He actually put a hanger and duct tape on a bumper of my old beat-up car in high school,” Poole-Byrd said.
She told her dad, “I can’t drive that thing,” but there was no way he was going to buy her a new car so she drove it, she said.
James F. Poole was born in Laurens, S.C., on April 12, 1936.
He had a degree in math from Benedict College in Columbia, S.C., and did graduate math work at the University of Pennsylvania.
He taught math and civics at Pueblo’s Central High School for five years before going into the investment business.
He liked teaching, Marty Poole said, “but when he got a taste of financial planning he just loved it.”
Poole met Marty Spann at church and they married on Nov. 19, 1961.
In addition to her and their daughters, he is survived by a son, Adam Poole of Las Vegas; six grandchildren; and his sister, Ollie Mae Dennis of Laurens.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
