Obituary of Dennis Jacobson

Dennis John Jacobson; Husband, Father, Brother, Uncle, SCUBA Divemaster, Attorney at Law, Professor, and Writer died on September 9, 2019. He is survived by wife, Debbie; Daughter, Rebecca; brothers, Dan, David, Douglas and their families. Dennis was born June 1, 1953 in Racine, Wisconsin to Don and Donna Jacobson. He was the third of four brothers. The family moved to Colorado when Dennis was a young child. Dennis attended Westminster High School, Class of 1971. Dennis attended Western State College from 1971-1975. While at Western State College, Dennis traveled with the debate team and was a semi-finalist at the National Debate Competition at Harvard in 1973. Dennis also served as student government president for two years and met many traveling musicians including B.W. Stevenson. After college, Dennis attended DU Law School and passed the Colorado State Bar in 1978. He worked as an assistant DA in Jefferson County for 3 years. He then joined the law firm currently known as Polidori, Franklin, Monahan and Beattie. In 2000, Dennis started his own law practice, The Law Firm of Dennis J. Jacobson. Dennis was awarded Young Lawyer of the Year by the First Judicial Law District in 1983. He served as president of the First Judicial Bar Association 1987-88 and served as vice-president of the Colorado Bar Association in 1990-1991. In 1998, Dennis was presented with the Award of Merit by the First Judicial Bar Association. For 14 years, Dennis served as a part-time judge in the Arvada Teen Court. His time in Teen Court was enjoyable and rewarding. In 2018, Dennis celebrated 40 years as a member of the Bar. Dennis met his wife, Debbie (Tully) through her brother with whom he worked at the DA’s office. They were married in Central City on December 19, 1981. Rebecca, their daughter, was born on October 21, 1983. The family has enjoyed traveling to Hawaii, Mexico, Prague, Fiji, and the Caribbean. In 1997, Dennis discovered his life-long passion for SCUBA and earned his credential as a Dive Master in 2000. When Debbie became certified to dive in 2002, they began 14 years of great travel adventures. They shared many of these expeditions in their humorous books; The Scuba Snobs Guide to Diving Etiquette, Book One and Book Two. Dennis memorialized his diving experiences with amazing underwater photographs and videos. One of Dennis’ favorite SCUBA memories was certifying his nephew and name-sake, Dennis, and spending time with him at Aurora Reservoir. In addition to writing two books about the adventure that is SCUBA diving, Dennis also published “When Your Marriage is Over; Practical Advice for Surviving Divorce and Living Divorced” in 2011. This book provides invaluable assistance for those going through divorce. Dennis’ first publication was a book of his own poetry entitled “My Own Voice” and includes his own thoughts, memories and reflections. Dennis greatly enjoyed teaching Ethics and Business Law for 10 years at Colorado Christian University as an adjunct professor. “Those were wonderful times in the classroom, and being accepted into the academic community at the University and participating in some of their forums was both a great honor and great fun.” Faith and service in the Christian tradition were the defining values of Dennis’ life. From the age of 16, Dennis shared his gifts of music and teaching with a variety of congregations culminating with his current church family at Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church. Dennis started the Saturday Morning Men’s Bible Study at Holy Shepherd more than 10 years ago and found his greatest joy in teaching Bible to his friends. No one got more out of these studies than he did. Dennis loved sharing his beautiful singing voice in worship and at funerals and weddings. One of the highlights of his year was selecting the theme and choosing the songs for the Holy Shepherd Hunger Dinner and performing them with his dear friends, the Praise Team. Dennis was a multi-faceted, talented, brilliant, sarcastic, dry-witted, and kind hearted original. He is irreplaceable. He will be deeply missed and never forgotten. Memorial service will be held on Tuesday, September 17, 4 p.m. at Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church, 920 Kipling, Lakewood, Colorado. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Holy Shepherd Memorial Fund or a charity of your choice.