Marianna Raftopoulos, a former Moffat County commissioner and longtime Republican activist, died at her Craig home on April 14 after an 11-year battle with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She was 55.
Raftopoulos, who was reared on a sheep ranch and married a rancher, raised three children and held several volunteer jobs. She was a member of the Moffat Tunnel Commission, chairwoman of the county Republican Central Committee, on the Moffat County Economic Development Partnership and chairwoman of the Colorado Wildlife Commission.
“She was a great citizen-activist,” former Gov. Bill Owens said in a phone interview. In a letter to the family, he wrote that she provided an example “of what one determined, talented, caring individual can do for her state and community.”
She was a member of the Owens transition team when he was first elected governor, but she declined a job in his administration because of family responsibilities, Owens said.
“She was very inspirational to everyone who crossed her path because of her love, presence, honesty and strength” even through her long illness, said her daughter, Mari Katherine Raftopoulos of San Diego.
“She was a driven kind of person who wanted to succeed,” said her husband, John Raftopoulos.
“She could have kids hanging off her while she was talking on the phone and fixing dinner,” he said. “She was the most unbelievable multitasker.”
Owens credited Marianna Raftopoulos for her work to get a justice center for Craig and for being instrumental in bringing high-speed Internet service to northwestern Colorado.
“She was incredibly intelligent and a good collaborator,” said friend Kathy Hall, who was a Mesa County commissioner when Raftopoulos was a Moffat commissioner.
Hall said Raftopoulos was interested in everything from protecting endangered species to setting up work programs to train people on welfare.
Her goal was always “a desire to make life better for people,” said Hall.
Marianna Mahleres was born in Grand Junction on May 23, 1954, and spent summers in Meeker on her father’s sheep ranch.
After graduating from high school in Grand Junction, she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and marketing at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She was a merchandise buyer for J.C. Penney, part of the time in San Antonio.
She married John Raftopoulos on Dec. 11, 1983.
In addition to her husband and daughter, she is survived by two sons, George Raftopoulos and Angelo Raftopoulos, both of Craig; her parents, Nick and Helen Mahleres of Grand Junction; and her brother, Harry Mahleres of Denver.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
Other Deaths
Bob Mercer, 65, the music industry executive who signed the Sex Pistols while at EMI Music in the 1970s, died of lung cancer May 5 in Los Angeles, said his wife of 31 years, Margie.
While at EMI, Mercer signed Queen, the Sex Pistols, Olivia Newton-John, Kate Bush and Marc Bolan. In 1980, he moved to EMI Films before becoming manager for artists such as Roger Waters.
He moved to Nashville in the early 1990s to help launch and run Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Records. He later became chief executive of the Now That’s What I Call Music! album compilation venture.
Dave Fisher, 69, founding member and lead singer of the 1960s folk group the Highwaymen, whose recording of the Civil War anti-slavery song “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore” became a surprise pop hit in 1962, died Friday at his home in Rye, N.Y., of myelofibrosis, a family friend said.
