Roger Cracraft, early Boulder bike path champion and radio journalist, dies at 84

Dec. 17—Roger Cracraft was an early champion of Boulder bike trails, a longtime news director at Boulder's KBOL radio station and had his name included on the Eisenhower Tunnel plaque to recognize his service on the Colorado Highway Commission.

Cracraft died Dec. 10 at his home in Arizona. He was 84.

Born in Wichita, Kan., he graduated from the University of Denver with a journalism degree and spent 14 years as the news director at Boulder's KBOL radio station. In 1974, he was hired as an executive producer at Denver's Channel 7. A few years later, he joined KOA-TV as their news director. He changed careers in 1984, working as a stockbroker until he retired in 2010.

While at KBOL, he covered the Apollo 11 launch in July 1969 and considered it a highlight of his journalism career, said son Jim Cracraft. He also was the voice of KBOL news in the early morning and evening and taught journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder.

"Growing up, it felt like everyone in town knew Roger by name," Jim Cracraft said.

Outside of work, he was active in the Jaycees and Boulder Rotary Club and had a

lifelong interest in urban planning and public transportation.

He was a board member for Boulder Parks and Recreation in the 1960s and the Boulder Planning Board in the 1970s. He was a proponent of the late Al Bartlett's Boulder Bikeways proposal, which created the city's first bike path. In 1970 as the chair of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, Cracraft rode through the ribbon for the first section of Boulder Bikeways with Bartlett on a tandem bicycle.

Cracraft also served as a Colorado Highway Commissioner and RTD board member in the 1980s, as well as commissioner to the Colorado Department of Transportation from 1994 to 2001. He continued his transportation service work after retiring to Arizona.

"I hope he is remembered for the significant contribution he made to the state and metro region's transportation infrastructure," said his youngest son, John Cracraft. "He was a driving force for the metro light rail and heavy rail systems. And for the the amazing highway projects he was a part of, including Vail Pass, the Eisenhower Tunnel and the Glenwood Canyon."

His sons said their father was always busy, balancing career, family and public service, and spent many evenings at board meetings, city council meetings, school board meetings or teaching at CU.

"He instilled a strong work ethic for me and my brother," Jim Cracraft said. "We both have had successful careers and earned advanced degrees at night, which I attribute to the lessons he taught us growing up."

Cracraft married Jane Minier in 1959, and they raised three sons in Boulder during their 25-year marriage. His oldest son, Paul Cracraft, preceded him in death. In 1990, Cracraft married Linda Capra, and they lived in Aurora until retiring to Arizona. They were married for 27 years. He married Janis Gallagher in March 2022.

His family said he loved traveling to Europe, in part because of the extensive and efficient train network, but also because of the food, wine, history and music. He was a big sports fan and enjoyed attending CU football games and Arizona basketball games.

"He was never happier than when we were getting together with family for holidays and with friends for dinner parties," John Cracraft said.

He was an avid reader who appreciated quality journalism, as well as a baker. He loved baking fancy deserts, using an Austrian pastry cookbook to create fancy pastries with his friends. He proclaimed his love of sweets with a license plate that read "CHOCLT." He also survived cancer, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, 25 years ago.

John Cracraft said it hit him this week that he can no longer call his dad on his way home from work, as he often did, to talk about work, life and his grandchildren.

"I will miss those conversations for the rest of my life," he said.