Anthony Van Westrum, 0619 COBJ, Vol. 48, No. 6 Pg. 50

• Author: BY BOB KEATINGE AND BILL CALLISON.
• Position: Vol. 48, 6 [Page 50]

48 Colo.Law. 50

Anthony Van Westrum

Vol. 48, No. 6 [Page 50]

The Colorado Lawyer

June, 2019

PROFILES IN SUCCESS

BY BOB KEATINGE AND BILL CALLISON.

Along and well-lived life cannot be encapsulated in a few short paragraphs. Anthony Colby van Westrum was a son, a husband, a father, and a grandfather. But we knew him as a lawyer, a colleague, and a beloved friend. We also knew him as a lodestar, who always quietly guided others along their own paths. A conversation with Tony was about family, travel, good books, politics, law, and stories.

Tonyvan Westrum was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on April 10, 1944, and he died in a fall on January 20, 2019 while on a walk in the woods with his camera.^[1] He loved being outdoors with his camera, and it is appropriate somehow that he was doing what he loved when he died.

After college at Purdue University (a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering) and law school at the University of Michigan, Tony moved to Colorado to join Davis, Graham & Stubbs, first as an associate and then as a partner. In 1991, he became special counsel with Burns, Wall, Smith & Mueller, P.C., and he practiced as a sole practitioner from 1994 until 2019. His practice focused on commercial and corporate law. Not surprisingly, Tony also focused on legal ethics, and he served on the Colorado Bar Association's Ethics Committee and the Colorado Supreme Court's committee on the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct. As Gary Blum has put it, "Tony was the conscience of the Bar." Not surprisingly, considering the depth and breadth of his interests and knowledge, Tony was an extremely competent expert witness and arbitrator.

Tony was recognized for his service to the bar and received the CBA Award of Merit in 2010, the Denver Bar Association's Award of Merit in 2006, and the CBA's Sue Burch Legislative Award in 2001. Tony frequently referred to the bar association, and his many lawyer friends, as his "law firm," and he delighted in his many bar activities, his mentoring of younger (and older) lawyers, and his frequent contacts with colleagues for lunches, dinners, and social events. Importantly, Tony recognized a lack of racial diversity in our bar organizations, evangelized about it, and attempted to do something about it. It would be a fitting tribute to Tony for others to deliberately continue these efforts.

Tony was a keystone in the drafting of business legislation for...