Gina Salazar, an aide to Congressman Jared Polis and an avid adventure traveler, died Aug. 10 at University of Colorado Hospital. She was 53.
She had suffered from cancer for 13 years.
“She brought so much enthusiasm to the office and was always radiant and engaged and excited,” said Polis, a Boulder Democrat representing Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District.
“She loved the work she was doing in behalf of the people,” he said.
Salazar had been North American business manager for PRIVAR, a travel agency, and managed yacht-chartering in Greece.
She loved active vacations. She backpacked in the Andes, sailed in the Bahamas, hiked in glacier areas above Lake Louise in Canada and canoed in the headwaters of the Green River.
Salazar “had a real passion for life and everything in it,” said friend Carolyn Hill of Annapolis, Md. “She was always striving to learn about life and herself.”
In a story she wrote about three years ago, Salazar said she believed an active lifestyle would help keep her cancer-free, which she was for several years. The cancer “had distorted my sense of self and confidence,” she wrote. So she continued meditating and doing those activities she could do: kayaking, swimming, snowshoeing, biking and fly-fishing, even after the cancer returned.
She devoted time to cancer awareness through two organizations, Casting for Recovery and Team Survivor, which encourage activity for cancer patients.
An avid learner, according to Hill, “she read everything from Tibetan Buddhism to traditional theology to strategic thinking and business leadership.”
“She was rich and generous in spirit and in time and money and gifts,” Hill said.
“She was always charging forward,” said her cousin Olga Garcia. “She wanted to help other women, to pay it forward,” said Garcia, of Lakewood.
Gina Salazar was born in Denver on Feb. 27, 1958. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Colorado State University in Fort Collins and earned a master’s in applied communications at the University of Denver.
In the Polis office, she was deputy district director, leading operations in Adams and Weld counties and taking responsibility for military/veterans/defense issues.
She is survived by her father, David Salazar of Aurora; good friend Tom Gilbert of Montgomery, Ala.; as well as aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her mother, Teresa Salazar, and her sister, Elizabeth Salazar-Kruse.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
