A longtime representative of Wyoming’s coal industry is being remembered as an untiring supporter of Wyoming who set the tone for those who spend their time in the Capitol lobbying legislators.
Greg Schaefer, a longtime Arch Coal employee and lobbyist, died May 10.
Schaefer, who also served as a University of Wyoming trustee, was remembered by colleagues as a steadfast backer of Wyoming’s energy industry.
“He was always a champion not only of the coal industry … but the energy business,” said Wendy Lowe, a lobbyist and longtime friend of Schaefer. “And he really set the tone for how you lobby in Wyoming. He was very gracious, very kind, considerate, vocal, opinionated, always stated his mind. But he was a very fair-minded individual.
Marion Loomis, the former executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association, said Arch’s former vice president of external affairs was also a strong supporter for the state itself.
“He was an avid Wyoming fan,” Loomis said. “He was a real cheerleader for the state of Wyoming wherever he went.”
Jonathan Downing, a former lobbyist, agreed.
“No matter what type of challenging issue that might come up, even if it didn’t involve mining, he was always one of those advocates for Wyoming and trying to make it better in the various ways that you could,” he said.
Schaefer was always ready to help those he worked beside, said Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr, a former lobbyist.
“I was one of the few females (lobbying in Cheyenne), I was in my 20s and he could have been chauvinistic, he could have been not helpful, condescending, and he was anything but,” she said. “He was always just so generous and so open and so respectful.”
Services are to be held Friday in Gillette.
