- Date Of Birth: December 15, 1944
- Date Of Death: November 30, 2021
- State: Colorado
Gregory J. Hobbs Jr., 76, Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, water law expert, historian of the American West, prolific poet, and devotee of rivers, streams, irrigation ditches and open spaces, died peacefully in Denver on November 30, 2021 with his wife and children by his side.
Greg was born on December 15, 1944 in Gainesville, Florida to Gregory James Hobbs and Mary Rhodes Hobbs. He is survived by his wife Bobbie, son Daniel, daughter Emily, grandchildren Joan, Kyle, Shannon, Ella, Grace, and has crossed the great divide to join the family’s ancestors and his grandson, Quinn.
Raised in an Air Force family, Greg lived in North Carolina, Panama Canal Zone, Virginia, Alaska Territory, California, and Texas. He met his wife Bobbie in 1966 at Philmont Scout Ranch in northern New Mexico. After marrying, they joined the Peace Corps and served in Bogatá, Colombia. Upon returning, Greg attended Law School at Berkeley Law and moved back to Bobbie’s home state of Colorado to serve as a law clerk to Judge William E. Doyle of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and raise his family.
Greg explored Colorado and the Southwest extensively with his family and developed an enduring love for the region’s landscapes, people and history. He wrote about his lessons, reflections and experiences through poems, essays and several published books.
Greg served as a Justice on the Colorado Supreme Court from 1996 to 2015. One of many notable honors was welcoming the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes back to their homeland on the steps of the capitol in December 2014 when Colorado apologized for the Sand Creek Massacre. He wrote: Those who came before us say: “Nothing Lives Long but the Mountains and the Ground.
