{{Short description|American politician (1931–2025)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Lewis H. Entz | image = Lewis Entz in 2006.jpg | image_size = 225px | caption = Entz in 2006 | alt = | state_senate = Colorado | district = 5th | term_start = April 4, 2001 | term_end = January 10, 2007 | predecessor = Gigi Dennis | successor = Gail Schwartz | state_house1 = Colorado | district1 = 60th | term_start1 = January 12, 1983 | term_end1 = January 6, 1999 | predecessor1 = James R. Lillpop | successor1 = Al Gagliardi | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1931|9|7}} | birth_place = Monte Vista, Colorado, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|12|10|1931|9|7}} | death_place = | citizenship = | party = Republican | spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Lora Jean Chambers |1952|2014|reason=died}}|{{marriage| Kathryn Bigley Entz|2020}}}} | children = One son and three daughters | education = | alma_mater = | profession = Farmer | website = | footnotes = <ref name=Goodland>{{cite news |last=Goodland |first=Marianne |date=December 11, 2025 |title=Colleagues and friends remember former Colorado state lawmaker Lew Entz |url= https://www.coloradopolitics.com/2025/12/11/colleagues-and-friends-remember-former-colorado-state-lawmaker-lew-entz/ |work=Colorado Politics |location= |publisher= |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20251216110908/https://www.coloradopolitics.com/2025/12/11/colleagues-and-friends-remember-former-colorado-state-lawmaker-lew-entz/ |archive-date=December 16, 2025 |access-date=December 15, 2025}}</ref><ref name=LHD /><ref name = SOS>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=n.d. |title=Historical Elections Database |url=https://historicalelectiondata.coloradosos.gov/search?t=table&bq=false&ccan[0].i=1742 |website= |location= |publisher=Colorado Secretary of State |access-date=December 15, 2025}}</ref> }}
'''Lewis H. Entz''' (September 7, 1931 – December 10, 2025) was an American politician and farmer from Colorado. A Republican, he served in the Colorado Senate for five years and nine months, from April 2001 until January 2007. Prior to serving in the Colorado Senate, he was a member of the Colorado House of Representatives for 16 years, from 1983 to 1999. He also served as an Alamosa County Commissioner.<ref name=LHD>{{cite web |url= https://www.leg.state.co.us/lcs/leghist.nsf/DocView.xsp?documentId=EF8F9F60B870E4AE872578E2005DFA16&action=openDocument |title= Lewis H. Entz |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website=Legislator History Database — Colorado legislators past and present |publisher=Colorado General Assembly |access-date=December 15, 2025 |quote=}}</ref>
==Elected offices== Entz's first elected office was to the Alamosa County Board of County Commissioners. He served 14 years as commissioner and served as board chair for part of that time. Entz was first elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1982. He was re-elected in 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994 and 1996. He represented House District 60. From 1983 to early 1993, his district included Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande and Saguache counties. Following 1992 reapportionment, in the house session that began in 1993, his district included Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Huerfano, Las Animas, Mineral, Rio Grande and Saguache counties. His service in the State House ended in January 1999.
Following the resignation of Gigi Dennis from the Colorado Senate on March 30, 2001, a vacancy committee selected Entz as her replacement. He was sworn in on April 4, 2001 and began representing Colorado's 5th Senate district which included Alamosa, Costilla, Conejos, Custer, Mineral, Huerfano, Las Animas, Pueblo, Rio Grande and Saguache counties. He ran for election to the office in the 2002 general election and won, defeating two opponents. Following 2002 reapportionment the district included Alamosa, Chaffee, Conejos, Costilla, Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Mineral, Pitkin, Rio Grande, and Saguache counties. Entz ran for re-election to the senate in 2006 but lost to Democrat Gail Schwartz. His service in the senate ended in January 2007.<ref name=LHD /><ref name = SOS>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=n.d. |title=Historical Elections Database |url=https://historicalelectiondata.coloradosos.gov/search?t=table&bq=false&ccan[0].i=1742 |website= |location= |publisher=Colorado Secretary of State |access-date=December 15, 2025}}</ref>
==Farming== In 1954, Entz started a potato farm near Hooper, Colorado. The {{convert|160|acre|sp=us|abbr=off|adj=on}} plot of land he started farming was wet and alkaline, and salt grass was the only plant that grew on it. Entz drained the land to remove the salt. By 1986, Entz Farms, as his operation came to be called, covered {{convert|1000|acre|sp=us|abbr=off}} and used mechanical harvesters to extract the potatoes from the ground, remove the dirt, and load the produce into the farm's fleet of trucks.<ref>{{cite news |last=Morson |first=Berny |date=September 22, 1986 |title= Rich vs. poor a school issue in House race |url= https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RMD19860922-01.2.27&srpos=4&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7CtxCO%7CtxTA-lewis+entz-------0------ |work=The Rocky Mountain News |pages=8–9 |volume=128 |issue=152 |location=Denver |publisher= |access-date=December 15, 2025}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== Entz served in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. Entz was married twice. He married Lora Jean Chambers in 1952, and they had four children together. She died in 2004. In 2020, he married Kathryn Bigley, who survived him. He died on December 10, 2025, at the age of 94.<ref name=Goodland /><ref>{{cite news |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=December 11, 2025 |title=Lewis H. Entz, Sept. 7, 1931-Dec. 10, 2025 |url=https://www.alamosacitizen.com/lewis-h-entz-sept-7-1931-dec-10-2025/ |work=Alamosa Citizen |location= |publisher= |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251215193236/https://www.alamosacitizen.com/lewis-h-entz-sept-7-1931-dec-10-2025/ |archive-date=December 15, 2025 |access-date=December 15, 2025}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.leg.state.co.us/lcs/leghist.nsf/DocView.xsp?documentId=EF8F9F60B870E4AE872578E2005DFA16&action=openDocument Legislative Branch page about Entz] * [https://historicalelectiondata.coloradosos.gov/candidate/1742 Electoral information about Entz from the Colorado Secretary of State]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Entz, Lewis}} Category:1931 births Category:2025 deaths Category:Republican Party Colorado state senators Category:Republican Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives Category:20th-century members of the Colorado General Assembly Category:21st-century members of the Colorado General Assembly Category:County commissioners in Colorado Category:Farmers from Colorado Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of the Korean War Category:People from Alamosa County, Colorado