Craig Barnes, political author & journalist, Died at 79

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Craig Barnes died on November4, 2015 due to lymphoma.

He was a political activist, author, lawyer, radio host and playwright.

Craig “grew up under the cottonwoods of eastern Colorado in a world driven by hard work, but redeemed by grand champions at the County Fair, horse races, baseball in wheat fields, and a three-room country school.”

In 1950, when Craig was a teenager, his family moved to England. Later, he moved with his family to Greece and then attended a boarding school in Switzerland.

When Craig came back to the United States for college, he chose Stanford over Princeton or Harvard “because there were girls there,” he told The New Mexican in an interview last year.

After college, Craig moved back to Colorado.

In 1970, Craig ran for Congress, there as a peace candidate.

He was co-counsel on a landmark Denver school integration case and another lawsuit trying to get wages for Denver nurses equal to those of their male counterparts.

Craig also worked as a newspaper columnist for the Rocky Mountain News and did spoken commentary on National Public Radio.

With his wife, Mikaela Barnes, Craig moved to Santa Fe in 1990 to be closer to his son and a new grandson.

The move didn’t slow down his political activism.

In the 1990s, Craig helped with peace talks between the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In addition to his son Will, Craig is survived by his wife, whom he married more than 50 years ago; two daughters, Molly Goodman of Palo Alto, Calif., and Lisa King of North Carolina; son Tom Barnes of Los Angeles and 11 grandchildren.

Craig passed away at age 79 on November 4, 2015.

“He died very, very peacefully with lots of family around him,” said his son Will Barnes.