Robert Thomas ""Bob"" Roper

Robert Thomas ""Bob"" Roper, 67, of Parker, CO, passed away on April 25, 2019 of pancreatic cancer. He was born March 28, 1952 in Oceanside, NY to Audrey Schweizer and Richard Roper, Sr.

Bob is survived by his loving wife of almost 47 years Karen, his identical twin brother Richard Roper, his daughter Heather Dirck (39), his son Kurt Roper (36), and his grandchildren Eddie Dirck (9), Tommy Dirck (6), Xaden Abrams (6), and Xandria Roper (1).

Always a leader, Bob graduated from Deer Park High School on Long Island, NY in June 1970, where he served as President of the Student Council. He attended the University of Kentucky in Lexington, where he graduated with a B.A. cum laude in 1974 and with his PhD in Political Science in 1978. Kentucky also won the NCAA Basketball Tournament that year, informing Bob's March Madness brackets ever since. During college, in 1972, he married his wife Karen.

Bob's first full-time job was as Assistant Professor of Political Science at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, where he started teaching in 1978. During his time at SIU, Bob became a dad with the births of both Heather and Kurt. He was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor before leaving SIU in 1983 to work at the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) in Williamsburg, VA. Five years later, in 1988, Bob transferred to the NCSC's Institute for Court Management in Denver, CO to design and develop their Court Technology Program, teach at their Court Executive Development Program, and supervise research projects. In 1991, rather than move the family back to Williamsburg with NCSC, Bob became Chief Information and Technology Officer for Colorado's statewide judicial system, a position he held for 20 years until he retired in 2011. After his retirement from the state, Bob continued to work independently part-time, including consulting for several years with the Alaska Court System, a destination that, conveniently, provided abundant opportunities for his retirement hobby of wildlife photography.

During retirement, Bob and Karen enjoyed traveling together around the world. They visited Europe, China, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Alaska, and Aruba, and spent time with family in Montana, Wyoming, and New Hampshire. Bob faithfully traveled with his camera everywhere he went, capturing and bringing home beautiful images of landscapes, animals, and the 2018 total solar eclipse. He donated his time and photographic skill to taking annual all-corps photos of 300 AmeriCorps members at Heather's place of employment, sharing prints of his nature photography to decorate Kurt's tattoo shop in Butte, MT, and capturing action shots and team photos of his grandchildren's soccer teams. Bob passed down his love of photography to two generations of his descendants.

Bob's other favorite retirement pastime was spending time with his grandchildren, who he loved, respected, and supported wholeheartedly in all things, as he did with his children. He loved to snuggle with the grandkids and the granddogs (against house rules) on the couch, teach them new things, play with them, check their homework, challenge them to games of chess and checkers, take them on ""serious werious"" shopping trips in the Target toy aisle, update them on what Santa is up to (who he knew from his repeated business trips to Alaska), pass on his passions for crispy bacon, lasagna, photography, the environment, and the Rockies & Broncos, instill in them logic, morals, hard work, and mischievousness, and above all else make them smile and laugh.

Even though Bob has relocated to heaven, where we know he was joyously greeted by family, friends, and a small pack of golden retrievers who went before him, his laughter, kindness, and generosity will ring through this world and in our hearts every time we remember him.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 18, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. at Horan & McConaty, located at 5303 E. County Line Rd. in Centennial, CO.

Donations may be sent in Bob's honor to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (www.pancan.org), the National Wildlife Federation (www.nwf.org), or the Golden Retriever Freedom Rescue (www.goldenretrieverfreedom.com).

Memorial Service: May 18, 2019 10:00 am

Horan & McConaty - South Metro/Centennial
5303 E County Line Rd
Centennial, CO 80122