Dan Gossert had a special interest in children with disabilities, and he spent much of his adult life helping them.
Gossert, former director of the Family Services Division at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, had polio at age 16 and spent most of his life on crutches or in a wheelchair.
Gossert died of a heart attack Aug. 10 at his Westminster home. He was 76.
A private memorial is planned at a later date.
Gossert was known as a determined voice in pushing for health aid to children and families. He testified before the state legislature and Congress, said his partner, Marlene Wiske of Thornton.
“You know the legislators can browbeat you,” said Gossert’s former boss, Dr. Tom Vernon, former head of the health department.
“But Dan was unyielding” in his pleas for more funding.
“He was just as unyielding with me,” said Vernon, who now lives in Philadelphia.
If Gossert lost a battle with his boss or legislators, “he never sulked,” said Vernon, who was at the health department from 1972 until 1990.
At the health department, Gossert was involved in women’s and infants’ health programs for low-income people, family planning, and programs for special-needs children, said Merril Stern, former assistant director at the health department. Other programs were newborn screening and physical and occupational therapy for children.
“He was an unsung hero who never called in sick and never asked for special privileges,” Stern said.
“He never let the handicap keep him from doing almost anything,” said Gossert’s brother, Clyde Gossert, of Tucson.
Dan Gossert helped found the Rivendell School for children with disabilities.
Gossert already had a car, a “1937 Ford, Henry Ford black” when he contracted polio. He converted it so he could operate it without using his paralyzed right leg, his brother said.
Daniel J. Gossert was born in the southern Colorado town of Aguilar on Dec. 5, 1934, and graduated from Boulder High School.
He earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Colorado, a master’s of social work at the University of Denver, and a master’s in public health at the University of North Carolina.
He was married to Virginia Gordon Gossert for 36 years, until her death in 2005.
In addition to Wiske and his brother, he is survived by her three children and four grandchildren, two other brothers, and five sisters.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
Other Deaths
John Howard Davies, 72, a wistful child actor of British movie dramas, memorable as the title orphan of “Oliver Twist,” died Monday of cancer in Blewbury, England.
Davies, the son of a film critic and screenwriter, was 8 when a family friend, director David Lean, hired the boy to star in his 1948 version of “Oliver Twist.”
Davies later joined BBC Television’s production team. In 1969, he produced and directed several of the early episodes of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” In 1975, Davies and John Cleese collaborated on “Fawlty Towers,” a farce set at an English hotel that is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished comedies ever made.
Frank Potenza, 77, a former New York City police officer who turned to comedy as “Uncle Frank” on his nephew Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show, died early Tuesday. Potenza had served as a police officer for two decades and as a private security guard before Kimmel asked him to join his fledgling show in 2003.
On “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” the uniformed Potenza was paired in comedy bits with Guillermo Rodriguez, a parking lot security guard for the show. Potenza and his former wife, Conchetta “Chippy” Potenza, were also sent by Kimmel on comic “adventures” such as working on a dairy farm and learning self-defense.
Jerry Leiber, 78, who wrote lyrics for such hits as “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock,” died Monday, his publicist said.
With Leiber as lyricist and partner Mike Stoller as composer, the team channeled their blues and jazz backgrounds into pop songs performed by such artists as Elvis Presley, the Coasters and Ben E. King.
Their breakout hit was blues great Big Mama Thornton’s 1953 rendition of “Hound Dog.” Presley’s version hit No. 1 in 1956.
Their songwriting took a more serious turn in 1969 with Peggy Lee’s hit “Is That All There Is?” They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
Denver Post wire services
