March 8, 1942 – August 1, 2023

Charles Stanley “Stan” Sloss of Washington, D.C., and Glenwood Springs, Colorado, died unexpectedly but peacefully on August 1, 2023, in his beloved childhood home in Glenwood Springs, where he has spent his summers for many years.

Stan’s passing on August 1, Colorado Day, is appropriate for a Colorado native who had a strong role in protecting the state’s wildlands, parks, and rivers — and who always maintained his Colorado voter registration.

Through his 81 years, Stan was a newspaper editor and reporter, Amherst College and Harvard University graduate, seasoned congressional staffer, and enduring personal mentor to people seeking to make society and the natural world better and healthier.

Stan’s primary professional career was long service as legal counsel and legislative advisor in the United States Congress. His notable accomplishments include guiding field research and enactment of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, protecting more than 100 million acres of national parks, preserves, refuges, and wilderness areas. His legislative record also included the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1980 and protections for wildlands and rivers in nearly every other state.

Stan served as staff for Congresswoman Patsy Mink (Hawaii), Congressmen John Seiberling (Ohio), Morris Udall (Arizona), and David Skaggs (Colorado), and Senator Mark Udall (Colorado). He retired from Congress in 2012.

Stan was born March 8, 1942, in Glenwood Springs to Ellis and Ora (Howard) Sloss. He graduated from Garfield County High School in 1960, and worked for the local Sage Reminder newspaper.

Stan is survived by his sister, Cheryl “Ellie” Hanlon, nephew Jarrod Wright and his family, all of Palm Harbor, Florida, and by cousins Sig Olsen of Glenwood Springs and Bob Porath of Boulder.

Stan’s great-grandmother Eleanore Malaby was purportedly the first white bride in the Roaring Fork Valley, arriving via Independence Pass in late winter. His grandmother Margaret Malaby Howard graduated from Garfield County High School in 1906 and lived to age 101. His mother, Ora Sloss, was a beloved teacher in Glenwood Springs schools.

Stan is remembered by friends as smart, witty, kind, and generous. He loved opera, classical music, and baseball. He was an enthusiastic and constant reader of history, biographies, politics, and quality fiction, always ready with a reading recommendation or a conversational reference.

Interment is at Rosebud Cemetery in Glenwood Springs. A memorial celebration will be held in Washington, D.C.

Donations in Stan’s memory may be made to Aspen Valley Land Trust.