Dail Neugarten, professor emerita at the University of Colorado Denver and a relentless advocate for the aging, died June 3 at her Denver home. She was 66.
She died from complications of muscular dystrophy, which she had since she was 14.
A gathering in her honor is planned for 1 p.m. June 19 in the third-floor community room of her apartment building, 1551 Larimer St.
“She was an extraordinary person with a strong will and scintillating intellect,” said Allan Wallis, associate professor at UC Denver.
“She expected a student’s best and insisted on crisp thinking,” Wallis said. “She didn’t suffer fools gladly.”
Neugarten was an associate professor in the graduate School of Public Affairs and the executive director of the National Leadership Institute on Aging for seven years. She also was the director of the institute’s master’s program. She was on former Gov. Bill Owens’ Blue Ribbon Panel on Workforce Issues in Long-Term Care. Her aim was improving and streamlining the delivery of services for the aging.
For several years, she led an institute at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park for people who ran agencies catering to the aging, said Francis Miller, a former student. “She embodied my ideal of a college professor” with her novel ideas for teaching, Miller said.
One idea included bringing Tinkertoys to class and having students create systems and models of how organizations should work.
“She struggled enormously and fought mightily for her independence,” said her brother, Jerry Neugarten of Chicago.
She was determined to live alone, he said. She owned a van with a ramp and remote controls and installed voice-recognition software on her computer when she could no longer type.
Because she was so independent and accomplished, “the illness became invisible,” her brother said.
In the past 10 years or so, she had a bright red scooter with stuffed animals in the basket, refusing a wheelchair her entire life. “She didn’t want to be defined by her illness but by her resilience,” said her cousin, Kaycie Artus of Golden.
“But she went through a lot of emotional pain” when she realized there was something else she couldn’t do, including playing the piano, said Artus, a physical therapist who helped adapt Dail Neugarten’s apartment to her needs.
“The disease ravages the muscles,” said Jerry Neugarten.
Eventually she couldn’t smile, “but she smiled in so many ways because of her vibrant personality,” Artus said.
Dail Neugarten survived several falls and a battle with breast cancer. She retired in 1999. Later, Neugarten did volunteer work with the Red Cross following Hurricane Katrina and answered phones at the University of Colorado Hospital.
Dail Neugarten was born in Chicago on April 14, 1945, and earned her bachelor’s degree from Lake Forest College, and her master’s and doctorate degrees at the University of Southern California.
In addition to her brother and cousin, she is survived by nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Fritz and Bernice Neugarten.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
