The Colorado House on Thursday held a memorial for former state Rep. Alice Borodkin, D-Denver, who died last April at the age of 89.

Borodkin represented House District 10 in the 2001-2002 sessions and House District 9 from 2003 to 2008 following redistricting. The district included Denver and parts of Arapahoe County.

Borodkin was a trailblazer on the issue of human trafficking, sponsoring the first legislation to create a state task force in 2005 and the law making human trafficking in Colorado a felony, in 2006. 

She also sponsored the legislature’s annual Holocaust Remembrance resolutions for six of her eight years of service, and she was the first to sponsor legislation on safe storage of firearms in 2002.

Former state Rep. Anne McGihon spoke fondly of Borodkin at Thursday’s memorial.

“Alice was a force of nature,” McGihon said, calling her a passionate friend, legislator and mom.

Borodkin was also passionate about breast cancer awareness, sponsoring legislation in 2005 that created a state license plate. McGihon noted it was the only time she voted for a license plate bill.

McGihon said she remembers “this fabulous woman with a smile” for her friends, her husband and her daughter Julie, who served as Borodkin’s aide during her time at the Capitol. 

She was a pilot and businesswoman, owning a Denver newspaper that she started after a tiff with a rival paper, McGihon said. 

Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera said Borodkin sat behind her in the House when they served together. She was quite the character and a force of personality, despite her small stature, Primavera said. 

Former state Rep. Fran Coleman, who finished her time in the House before Borodkin joined the legislature, said they knew each other before either served.

“She was ahead of her time,” Coleman said, stating Borodkin knew how to campaign.

Most of the offices back then were held by men – there were just 22 women in the state House in 2001 – but Borodkin believed in parity. Once she became a legislator, she worked very hard to protect children and women, including with the trafficking that was beginning to be seen, Coleman said, adding Borodkin did her homework on that issue. 

Lawmakers need their spouses and partners, Coleman said, and Borodkin had that team with her daughter and her second husband. 

Borodkin was born April 16, 1933 in New York City. Her first husband was Howard Borodkin, and, after his death, she married the late Arnold Brodsky. With Borodkin she had two children, Julie and Steven, and grandson Zachary Borodkin.

Borodkin’s memoir, Caught Between the Bettys, was a reference to Betty Crocker and feminist icon Betty Friedan. A 2015 review in the Intermountain Jewish News said Borodkin “was caught between these two antithetical cultural forces for a long time.” She “was trained to embody the female agenda of her era. All her preparations and accomplishments prepared her for marriage until the rebel took charge.”

Her papers are housed at the Denver Public Library.