Former three-term Colorado Gov. Richard “Dick” Lamm died Thursday night at age 85, his wife said in a statement. He was one of the longest-serving governors in the state’s history.
Lamm would have turned 86 next week, but was surrounded by friends and family when he died of complications from a pulmonary embolism, according to his wife and 1998 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Dottie Lamm. He had two children.
“I’m very saddened to hear about the passing of former Gov, Dick Lamm and send my condolences to Dottie and his entire family,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Friday. “I thank Governor Lamm for his service to the state of Colorado both as governor and his many years teaching. Gov. Lamm took on tough issues, and he never shied away from civil political discourse and embraced collaboration.”
The former Democratic governor, who was born in Wisconsin before moving to Denver in 1962, served three terms from 1975 to 1987. He also was a state representative from 1966 to 1974.
During his time in the state legislature, he sponsored and helped pass the nation’s first abortion law in 1967, making it easier for women to get abortions because of health issues or in cases of rape or incest (it came six years before Roe v. Wade). He also cosponsored the state’s first open-records law.
In the early 1970s, Lamm led a campaign for a successful referendum to put a stop to Colorado hosting the 1976 Winter Olympic Games after the state had been awarded them, and he also campaigned in 2018 against bringing the games to Colorado, citing environmental and fiscal concerns.
Lamm ran for the Democratic nomination in Colorado for U.S. Senate in 1992, but lost. After complaints about the Democratic and Republican parties, he unsuccessfully sought candidacy to higher office as the Reform Party presidential nominee in 1996.
Before holding office, Lamm was in the U.S. military, was an attorney and became a certified public accountant, and after leaving office, he codirected the University of Denver’s Institute for Public Policy Studies.
Lamm later became a hardline critic of immigration and was an advisor to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which the Southern Poverty Law Center considers to be a hate group due to its ties to white supremacists.
A 2003 short speech by Lamm titled “I Have a Plan to Destroy America” went viral among anti-immigration advocates. In it, he claimed that multiculturalism, bilingualism and “the cult of diversity” were ruining the country. Three years later, Lamm claimed in a speech that Black and Latino people lack the drive and ambition of Asians and Jews.
And in his book, “Two Wands, One Nation,” he dreamed of having a magic wand to wave “across the ghettos and barrios of America and infuse the inhabitants with Japanese or Jewish values, respect for learning and ambition,” The Denver Post reported in 2006.
Fellow Democrats denounced his remarks that year, with then-U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, a Latino, saying Lamm “belittles people” and stereotypes them. Former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart said Lamm’s remarks “condone sophisticated kinds of racial profiling and racial characterization.”
Details on services are pending.
This is a developing story and will be updated.