Judge Kerry Evander, a member of the state’s highest court, died Friday after a battle with cancer.
He was 66.
He joined the Colorado Supreme Court in 1985.
He retired in 2018.
Evander was the first woman to serve on the state Supreme Court.
He presided over a number of high-profile cases, including the landmark 1989 ruling that legalized gay marriage and the landmark 2013 ruling that overturned the state-mandated ban on abortion.
Evander was born in Denver in 1927.
He graduated from the University of Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy.
He taught law and philosophy at Colorado State University for 10 years before returning to the university in 1970.
He clerked for Chief Justice Michael Rehnquist and then Justice Edward B. Kagan.
