Obituary of Anita West

Dr. West was born on October 21, 1930 in the Bronx, New York City to Bert and Dorothy (Sandler) Wolfe. She attended Music and Art High School and Columbia University in New York before moving to Denver. There she met and married David West in 1955, and they had two children David Russell and Laurie. Most of her working life was at the University of Denver, from where she retired in 1990 as Director of the DU Research Institute and Senior Scientist Emeritus - the first woman in the nation known to head a major university research organization. She continued to do private consulting for many years. She was published widely in professional scientific journals, made numerous presentations and received many awards for her work in engineering and program evaluation. She was an accomplished pianist and enjoyed tap dancing, which she continued to perform until she was 88 years old, and volunteered tutoring mathematics at all grade levels for Denver Public Schools. She always felt very fortunate to have a close, loving family life as well as a gratifying career. Although she enjoyed studying history and geography, she was never interested in travel, saying that everything she loved was right here. She and her husband David were married for 64 years happy years. The single tragedy in their married life was the loss of their cherished daughter, Laurie West-Roberts, Esq., who became ill with leukemia and died in 2013. In addition to her beloved husband and their wonderful son, Dr. David West, she is survived by a dear son-in-law, Scott West-Roberts, and cherished grandchildren Alexandra West, Jacob West-Roberts and Aaron West-Roberts as well as numerous beloved nieces, nephews and friends who hold the fullness of her life and love forever in their hearts. Her dear brothers Stanley Wolf, well-known composer, and Robert Wolfe, retail executive, pre-deceased her. She lived a selfless life filled with grace and poise, loved and admired by those she held dear. Memorial service will be held at the Feldman Mortuary Chapel on February 22, 2019.