In a year that saw a new virus emerge as one of the state's leading causes of death within weeks of its arrival amid a global pandemic, Colorado lost leading political and civic figures, pioneers who left their mark and helped shape the state they left behind. Through Dec. 30, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 3,803 people in Colorado had died due to COVID-19, and 4,687 patients had the new coronavirus at their time of death, including deaths from other causes. Steve Farber, a founding partner and president of powerhouse, Denver-based law and lobbying firm Brownstein Farber Hyatt Schreck, died March 4 at age 76. A friend and adviser to presidents, senators, governors and mayors, the legendary attorney negotiated deals for the Denver Broncos, Denver International Airport and the E-470 highway authority and oversaw the committee that brought the 2008 Democratic National Convention to Denver. After receiving a transplanted kidney from his son Gregg in 2004, Farber founded The American Transplant Foundation, which has saved more than 1,400 lives and helped enact laws to support living donors and their families.