Sue OBrien

OBRIEN, SUE Sue OBrien, editor of The Denver Posts editorial page, died August 6 at the Hospice of Metro Denver. She was 64. OBrien was born March 6, 1939, in Waukon, Iowa, to Brig. Gen. John Gordon OBrien and Jean Schadel. OBrien began her career in journalism as a reporter at Advance, a magazine for the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, in 1959. Much of her early career was spent in radio and television news, including stints as a radio anchor and political correspondent for NBC News in New York and a news director of Denvers KOA Radio and KOA-TV (now KCNC-TV). In 1980, she became press secretary to Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm. In 1984, she earned her MPA at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, then returned to Colorado to manage Gov. Roy Romers first campaign. After his election in 1986, she joined The Denver Post, working as an assistant city editor until 1988, when she moved to the University of Colorado at Boulder. There, she was associate dean, director of the masters program and an associate professor. She assumed the position of editorial page editor at The Post in September 1995. OBrien was chair of the Council of Divisions of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and was a member of the Colorado Baseball Commission during the successful drive to bring Major League Baseball to Colorado. She was a friend of Bill Wilson for more than 20 years. OBrien is survived by her husband, John Seifert; daughter Sarah Hautzinger and son-in-law Timothy Ferguson of Colorado Springs; two sons and daughters-in-law, Peter and Tanya Hautzinger of Grand Junction and Andrew and Yvonne Hautzinger of Las Lunas, N.M.; three stepsons: Eric Seifert of Black Hawk, David Seifert of Wheat Ridge and Nicholas Seifert of Las Cruces, N.M.; and six grandchildren. A funeral mass will be said at St. Johns Episcopal Cathedral, East 14th Avenue between Washington and Clarkson streets in Denver, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 16. Fairmount Mortuary is handling the arrangements. Before her death, OBrien asked that any memorial contributions go toward the CU journalism schools building fund. Checks payable to the CU Foundation, with the notation, "In memory of Sue OBrien," can be sent to: CU Foundation, University of Colorado, P.O. Box 1140, Boulder, CO 80306.