John ""Jack"" Fleming Kelly

Jack passed away on 5/22/15 from complications related to Alzheimer's disease. He was 89. The first-born child of Charles James Kelly and Marjorie Fleming Kelly, Jack was a native to Denver Colorado. His maternal grandfather, John Donaldson Fleming was a mayor of Leadville, Colorado and then the first dean of the University of Colorado Law School. Jack grew up in Park Hill and attended Blessed Sacrament School, Smiley Junior High School and Regis Jesuit High School. He was the valedictorian of his 1943 class from Regis and went on to Yale College (Class 1947) thanks to a scholarship from the Colorado Yale Alumni Association. He then received a law degree from the Yale Law School (1950). He served our country as a member of the United States Naval Reserve where he learned Japanese and was a commissioned Ensign on the USS Princeton during the Korean War. Jack returned to Denver after Yale and became one of the first associates with the emerging firm of Holland and Hart. He remained at Holland and Hart as a partner until 1989. In 1955 Jack married Flaminia ""Nina"" Odescalchi, also a Denver native. They raised four children – Maureen Kelly Barker (John Barker, Jr.), Johanna Elizabeth Kelly (Buzz Yancey), Alinka Flaminia (Bruce McNab) and John Fleming Kelly, Jr. (Emilie Barton Kelly). There are four grand children, John Kelly Barker, Bridget Lauren Barker, Charles James Kelly II and Tyler Lee Kelly. His parents, numerous cousins, aunts, uncles and his sister, Mary Ellen Kelly Owen, and his former spouse, Nina, predeceased Jack. Jack's civic and philanthropic involvements were numerous and included the founding of the Regional Transportation District (RTD), leadership of the board of directors of the Central City Opera, and fund raising for the creation of the Buell Theatre at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Among the most notable Jack was influentially involved during the critical years from 1965 to the legislative bill creating RTD in 1969. He guided and led the original RTD board to success at the polls in 1973, thus enabling RTD to have evolved into today's nationally honored transit system. He was also very loyal to his schools and his church. He served Yale University from his graduation in 1947, receiving its highest honor, The Yale Medal, in 1985. He served on the Fr. Edward McQuire, SJ and Br. Joseph Gockel, SJ Memorial Scholarship committee at Regis High School for 35 years as well as service to both the Archdiocese of Denver and the parish of St. John's the Evangelist (now Good Shepherd). The family would like to thank the staffs at The Avenue Grill, Garden Terrace Residence and Denver Hospice for their care and attention to Jack over the past several years. Services are Friday, June 5 at 10 am at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 2626 East 7th Avenue Parkway in Denver, followed by internment at Fairmont Cemetery. The family respectfully requests contributions in lieu of flowers to Central City Opera House Association, 400 S. Colorado Blvd, Suite 530, Denver CO 80246 Please visit the guestbook link below to share memories of Jack.