Democratic stalwart Gene Karp dies

Karp died at the Peppi’s House hospice center on the Tucson Medical Center campus after suffering from cognitive impairment for several years.

He spent decades working in progressive politics, including six years as chairman of the Pima County Democratic Party in the 1970s. He was inducted into the Arizona Democratic Party’s Hall of Fame in 2007.

“He truly loved the Democratic Party and gave his heart and soul to it,” his wife, Naomi Karp, said.

Born in Philadelphia, Karp moved to Tucson with his family when he was 9 years old. He attended Sam Hughes Elementary, Mansfeld Junior High, and Tucson High before going on to earn a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from the University of Arizona.

After serving as the Democratic Party’s chairman in Pima County, in 1977 became chief of staff and legal counsel for U.S. Sen. Dennis DeConcini, a position he held until 1994.

He created a summer internship program for students at Arizona colleges to work in Washington, which became a model for other Senate offices.

After the end of DeConcini’s Senate tenure, Karp served for three years in the U.S. Department of Labor as an appointee of President Bill Clinton.

He moved back to Tucson in 2003 and resumed his law career. He also taught a UA political science honors class titled “How Congress Works.”

Despite his cognitive impairment in recent years, Karp remained “fiercely independent,” Naomi Karp said. “He was not the type of person who would cave into it.”

Karp was the first member of his family to attend college and he “did everything he could to convince young people that they had to stay in school,” she said.

“He was a wonderful family man. His children and grandchildren always came first,” she said. “I tell the grandchildren: ‘Now, you have the best guardian angel.’”

The family held a private service Friday, she said.

In addition to his wife, Karp is survived by his daughter, Gail, her husband, Erik Linton, and children, Melany and Levi, of New York; his son, Wingate, of Los Angeles; his brother, Leonard, of Tucson; and family members in Arizona and elsewhere.

The family asked those who wish to honor Karp to make donations to the Karp-Silver Family Scholarship at the UA; the Respite Care Fund of the Alzheimer’s Association of Southern Arizona; the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona’s Helping the Working Poor Fund; and the Pima County Democratic Party’s Get Out The Vote Drive.