Joyce Meskis is a name every Denverite knows — or should know. The longtime CEO of the Tattered Cover Bookstore, well known for her First Amendment advocacy, died late Thursday at her home.

Online records and published reports indicated she was 80 years old but The Denver Gazette could not confirm her age.

The bookstore announced her death in a social media post on Friday.

There are no plans in place to honor her yet, and current CEO Kwame Spearman said any memorials will likely take place after the holiday season.

Meskis bought the book store in 1974 when it was just a 950-square-foot basement shop on East 2nd Avenue in Cherry Creek North and in the 1980s expanded into the former Neusteter’s department store nearby. It now has several, but smaller, locations.

She retired in 2017 after a two-year transition to the husband and wife team of Len Vlahos and Kristen Gilligan. More recently, it was sold to Denver natives Spearman and David Back, founding partners of Bended Page, LLC.

Many remembered Meskis as a quiet leader, but a leader nonetheless, unafraid to stand up for what she believed was right.

In 1984, Colorado criminalized the sale of “sexually oriented material,” according to the Colorado Freedom of Information Center (CFOIC). Meskis challenged the law and took it all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court. She won, and the law was deemed unconstitutional.

In 2002, she took on another law that violated a person’s right to anonymously purchase books. The ruling of Tattered Cover v. Thornton changed the landscape of First Amendment rights, according to attorney Dan Recht, who represented Meskis during that case.

Recht was contacted but unable to respond for further comment on Saturday.

When he took over operations of the Tattered Cover, Spearman figured one thing out very quickly:

“She’s just a legend,” he said. “We have employees that have been here for 10, 15, 20 years and they just hold her in such high regard.”

Patricia Calhoun, co-founder and editor of Westword, described Meskis as a “fierce fighter.”

“But it went beyond literature,” Calhoun said. “It went to the freedom to buy a book even if it involved how to make a bomb or how to cook up meth, that the government had no right to find out what kind of books you were buying.”

Callhoun recalled when Westword’s offices were across the street from the now-closed LoDo Tattered Cover location and nearby the Wynkoop Brewery. Employees of the three businesses traveled to Rockies games beginning in 1995, grabbing seats in the same row so frequently local journalists took to calling it a “Hipster Haven.”

Calhoun stopped short of calling Meskis a personal friend, instead saying she was a friend to the entire city. Calhoun penned her own remembrance piece on Westword.

“She was our friend and she was our champion, and it’s going to be a sadder city without her,” she said

Her unwavering advocacy made her a “literary lioness,” something Andrea Dupree, cofounder of Lighthouse Writers Workshop, believes to be an appropriate title.

“She seemed to define what it means to carve out territory and defend it, no matter what,” Dupree said. “Joyce didn’t seem to waver in her belief in the first amendment—no matter what the public sentiment or era we were living through, she stuck by the idea that censorship of any kind was wrong.”

She was a presence, Spearman said. Any time she spoke, it was with a thoughtful authority everyone respected.

“Joyce built Denver’s most iconic brand,” he said. “And she did that for over 40 years with perseverance, innovation and passion.”

Her passing did not blindside Spearman. Employees close to Meskis had shared the information that her health was declining about a week before she passed, he said. But that warning did little to blunt the effect her passing would have on so many that knew her so well.

He said the focus right now will be ensuring the needs of the community and staff are met through the grieving process.

Derek Holland has worked at the Tattered Cover for 32 years and is now manager of the outlet in McGregor Square near Coors Field. He remembers his first training session was a four-hour discussion with Meskis.

“She would talk about the history and philosophy of the store,” Holland said. “That was part of everybody’s initial training for the better part of 20 years. She met with every group at some point.”

The philosophy? Loving books and loving people who love books, according to Holland. He said the visible commitment to that love of books and readers is what kept people coming back.

When Holland first heard the news of her death, he felt one thing: Sadness. That was quickly supplanted by a string of other emotions as he reminisced about the past 32 years.

“When I think about all the relationships that I’ve formed, all the great experiences that have been a part of this store, there’s just nothing but gratefulness,” he said. “This has been such a huge part of my life.”

Holland recalled couples meeting at the store who would go on to bring their children in. These culminate in the Tattered Cover experience, making it such a great place to be, he said.

Meskis’ legacy will be one intertwined with Denver’s, according to Calhoun.

“[She created] an institution that you can’t imagine Denver without,” Calhoun said. “It’s a community of book lovers, but also just a community of people who like to get out of the house and experience each other, maybe hear an author and maybe have a cup of coffee in a nice setting.”