Tom Farley, longtime Democratic leader and former minority leader of the Colorado House of Representatives, died in a Pueblo hospital Monday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 75.
Farley, who served the Pueblo area, ran an unsuccessful primary race in 1974 against former Gov. Dick Lamm.
“He (Farley) would have made a great governor,” said longtime friend and political colleague Ray Kogovsek, who served in the state House and the U.S. House.
Gov. Bill Ritter issued a statement calling Farley “an incredible public servant” who “served the state in invaluable ways.”
Farley’s main interests in the legislature, where he served from 1964 until 1974, were education, wildlife, water and “anything that helped Pueblo,” said his wife, Kathy Farley.
“He had incredible energy and passion in the things he worked for,” she said.
“He was intense, patient and a good negotiator,” Kogovsek said.
“Politicians aren’t born, but if you want an example of a good one, it’s Tom Farley,” said Kogovsek.
Farley considered a career in radio after working at two radio stations, “but his father would have none of it,” said the Rev. John Farley, Tom Farley’s son and a Catholic priest in Grand Junction. “He wanted his son to have a profession.”
Farley remained active in politics and civic affairs for years. He was on the Colorado State University Board of Governors and was a regent for Santa Clara University in California. He was on the Colorado Wildlife Commission, was a charter trustee of Great Outdoors Colorado and served on the State Fair Commission.
He was given numerous awards, including from the University of Colorado, the city of Pueblo and Parkview Medical Center, where he had served as legal counsel.
For many years Farley was a senior partner in Petersen & Fonda, where he specialized in education, health care and public utilities law.
Tom and Kathy Farley were progressives in the Catholic Church, welcoming the modernizing changes of the Second Vatican Council.
He helped establish a migrant worker endowment fund and entertained Philip and Daniel Berrigan in his home. They were nationally known anti-Vietnam War priests/activists.
Asked whether he was in favor of ordaining women, his wife said, “I don’t think I ever let him think otherwise.”
Thomas T. Farley was born Nov. 10, 1934, in Pueblo and graduated from Pueblo Catholic High School. He earned an economics degree at Santa Clara University and his law degree at the University of Colorado.
On May 14, 1960, he married Kathy Murphy. They met at CU when she was an undergraduate and he was in law school.
In addition to her and his son, he is survived by two daughters, Kelly Farley and Anne-Michele Farley, both of Pueblo; another son, Michael Farley of Littleton; and three grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
