Paul Jensen will be remembered for a life of purpose, optimism, and adventure; a life that carried him from the world of national politics and public affairs in Washington, D.C., to western Wyoming, where he fulfilled a longtime dream of living and working as a cowboy. Paul passed away at his home in Daniel, Wyoming, on August 18, 2026. That was always his wish. He was 79 years old. Paul was born in Denver, Colorado on September 26, 1946.

Paul loved the time he spent riding for the Hoback Stock Association representing the Pape ranch. Paul was also a devoted chronicler of Wyoming life, its history, and its people. His books included Hard and Noble Lives: A Living Tradition of Cowboys and Ranchers in Wyoming’s Hoback Basin (2007); The State of Equality in the Equality State: Saving the Best of the West in Wyoming (2009); All in a Day’s Ride: Life Along Horse Creek in the Wyoming Range (2011); and Last Rides of Cowboys, Indians, Generals and Chiefs (2018). His writing captured the character, history, traditions, and remarkable people of the West he had come to call home. Art was also a lifelong passion, and in retirement, he took up sketching and wood carving. Family and friends have been the recipients of his animal carvings and drawings.

For sixteen years, Paul served as Executive Director of Rendezvous Pointe, a senior and community center in Pinedale, Wyoming. His commitment to that organization reflected a deep dedication to the community and to the people around him.

Before making Wyoming his home, Paul established an impressive career in Washington, D.C. He was a founding partner and Senior Vice President of Powell Tate, a prominent public affairs firm, and later served as Senior Counselor to Eisner-Sanderson Strategies. Throughout his career, he provided communications, public affairs, legislative, and media counsel to a wide range of American businesses and organizations.

Paul's public service included work at the highest levels of government and national politics. During the Carter administration, he served as Executive Assistant and Counselor to the U.S. Secretary of Labor, acting as chief of staff and liaison with the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, and other cabinet-level officials. He also worked on four presidential campaigns, including serving as National Political Director of the Dukakis for President and Dukakis-Bentsen campaigns and as National Political Coordinator for the Mondale for President campaign.

Paul earned a bachelor's degree from Macalester College in 1969 and a master's degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1971.

Yet perhaps the most fitting measure of Paul's life was not his professional achievements, but the life he chose. He left the nation's capital for Wyoming, where he and his family made their home along Horse Creek, a place with its own history of mountain men, homesteaders, and unusual characters. There, Paul found the landscape and way of life he had long dreamed of knowing. He loved his horses and rides with family out back and in the Wyoming Range.

He will be remembered with gratitude and affection by those who knew him, worked beside him, learned from him, and shared in the life he so fully embraced. He is preceded in death by his parents, Harald and Ingrid, and his brother, Rudy. He is survived by his wife of 31 years, Sherrill; children, Luke of Houston, Texas; Hadley of Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Lily of Boulder, Colorado. He is also survived by his sister, Kate, and grandchildren, Ryder, Skye, Harry and Frannie, as well as many loving nieces, nephews, in-law sisters and brothers, and friends. Per Paul’s request, a private family ceremony will be held later this year.