Attorney John Fleming “Jack” Kelly, whose efforts led to the formation of the , has died from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease. He was 89.
After receiving his law degree from in 1950, Kelly became one of the first associates with the emerging Denver law firm . He remained with the firm until 1989, when he retired as a partner.
A Denver native who grew up in the Park Hill neighborhood and was valedictorian of his 1943 graduating class at Regis Jesuit High School, Kelly was the RTD board’s first elected chairman. He also was chairman of the board of directors and put in 36 years as master of ceremonies for its opening night tradition, the presentation of the Flower Girls.
His maternal grandfather, John Donaldson Fleming, was mayor of Leadville before becoming the first dean at the University of Colorado Law School.
“Jack was influentially involved during the critical years from 1965 to the passage of the legislative bill creating RTD in 1969,” recalls Bert Melcher, a retired captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve’s civil engineer corps and a consultant in environment policy. “He was the only person on our 1969 board who could have guided and led us to success at the polls in 1973, thus enabling the RTD that has evolved into today’s nationally honored transit system.”
“Jack was persistent, a leader who used reason to persuade. He didn’t push people into things,” adds Flodie Anderson, the first at-large member of the RTD board. “Jack chaired the board for five or six terms and under his leadership, RTD flourished.”
Kelly’s involvement with the Central City Opera dates to the 1960s, and his family’s legacy with it continues. His daughter, Maureen Barker, senior manager at Citywide Banks, is president of the board of directors. The opera’s family matinees are named in honor of his former wife, the late Nina Odescalchi Kelly.
“Jack Kelly left an indelible mark on the Central City Opera, and we are eternally grateful,” says Pat Pearce, the company’s general and artistic director.
“Dad was committed to sharing his passions — family, the law, civic engagement, education and the performing arts — with those around him,” says his daughter, Johanna Kelly, director of development for .
He received Yale’s highest honor, The Yale Medal, in 1985; was a decades-long member of the Edward McQuire Scholarship Committee at Regis High School; and helped raise money to build Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
In addition to daughters Johanna and Maureen, Kelly is survived by two other children: Alinka Flaminia, of Aptos, Calif., vice president and general counsel of PMC-Sierra Inc., and John F. Kelly Jr. of Morrison, senior account executive for EPS-Doublet. Four grandchildren also survive.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles James Kelly and Marjorie Fleming Kelly; his sister, Mary Ellen Kelly Owen; and his former wife, whom he had married in 1955.
Friends are invited to honor his memory at a service that begins at 10 a.m. June 5 at Church of the Good Shepherd, 2626 E. Seventh Avenue Parkway. Interment at follows.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Central City Opera House Association, 400 S. Colorado Blvd., Suite 530, Denver 80246.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@ denverpost.com or twitter.com/ joannedavidson
