Barbara “Bobbi” Tobias, mother-in-law of political power broker Norm Brownstein, died Wednesday of natural causes at her Denver home. She was 89.
“She was born into a very prominent pioneer family and lived a very good life,” Brownstein said, “but she was a very private person. Sophisticated and private.”
Her father, Kallman Barnett, came to Denver from Kansas in the 1930s to pursue business opportunities. He owned Barnett Lumber Co. and was one of Denver’s first fight promoters, responsible for bringing the first Golden Gloves match to the Mile High City. He sold Barnett Lumber in the 1950s to Charlie Goldberg, a founder of the Denver Broncos Quarterback Club. When Mile High Stadium opened in 1976, Goldberg, co-author of “Broncos! How Sweet It Is,” opened the Mile-Hi Stadium Club that was situated under the north stands.
“Bobbi’s mother, Helen Ruth Barnett, died when Bobbi was quite young, and she was brought up by her father and an aunt,” recalled a childhood friend, Peggy Crane Epand.
“Bobbi had a fantastic personality and was very popular. She was a beautiful woman, a terrific golfer and bridge player, and she loved to ride horseback. The two of us used to ride in the stock show, but that was a long time ago.”
She loved to ski and had a passion for travel.
“She was one of the first Americans in China after Nixon opened it up,” Brownstein recalled.
A graduate of Graland Country Day School and East High School, Tobias attended the University of Southern California, Louisiana State University and the University of Colorado before receiving a degree in speech pathology from the University of Denver.
She married Toby Tobias in 1943 after meeting him in Biloxi, Miss., when she was attending LSU and he was in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Their wedding took place just before he shipped out to the South Pacific. They had been married 52 years when he died in 1995.
In their later years, the couple spent winters in Palm Springs and devoted their time in Denver to supporting such charitable causes as National Jewish Health, Children’s Hospital Colorado, the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, the University of Denver Women’s Library Association and the Denver Art Museum.
Her daughter, Sunny Brownstein; son, Robert C. Tobias, a judge in Arapahoe County; and grandchildren Chad, Bo and Callae Brownstein survive her, as do great-grandchildren Cade, Ryder, Brody and Presley Brownstein.
Her funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Temple Emanuel, 51 Grape St. Interment follows at Fairmount Cemetery. The family suggests memorial contributions be made to Rocky Mountain PBS, 1089 Bannock St., Denver, CO 80204.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@denverpost.com
