HELENA — A well-known Helena educational leader has died.

Jack Copps – who served two stints as Helena Public Schools superintendent, almost 30 years apart – was 87.

“Helena Public Schools extends our deepest sympathies to the family, friends and colleagues of former Helena Public Schools Superintendent Jack Copps,” the district wrote in a statement sent to families as part of current Superintendent Rex Weltz' weekly newsletter. “Jack left an indelible mark on public education in Montana.”

Copps began his career as a teacher and principal in Poplar on the Fort Peck Reservation. He then worked as a principal in Lewistown before becoming an administrator with HPS in 1979. He stayed with the district through 1989, the last two years as superintendent.

Copps then spent ten years as a deputy state superintendent with the Montana Office of Public Instruction. He was also the first executive director of the Montana Quality Education Coalition.

In 2006, Copps came out of retirement to become superintendent of Billings Public Schools. He stayed in that position until 2011, retired again, but then returned just a year later as interim superintendent.

In 2016, at the age of 79, Copps came out of retirement one final time, to become Helena’s interim superintendent. He ended up getting that job on a permanent basis, and stayed there through the summer of 2018.

During that time, Copps led HPS through the successful campaign for voters to approve a $63 million bond proposal that funded three new school buildings: Bryant, Central and Jim Darcy Elementary.

Rick Hays, who was a volunteer leader with the bond campaign, said there’s no question Copps played a huge role in its success.

“One of the many beauties of Jack was his passion for the students, which inspired all the rest of us, as it did in any building he went into,” he said. “That's the reason he was the ideal superintendent, because when you spent about five minutes with Jack, you knew it was all about the students. That's all that mattered to Jack.”

In 2019, the Helena school board voted to honor Copps by naming the library at the new Central School after him.

“It was the perfect thing to do for Jack,” Hays said. “He valued the libraries; he thought they were a huge resource, because they’re a learning instrument that helped his students.”

In 1982, Copps married Penny Bullock, the mother of future Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who was then a student at Helena High School. Bullock told MTN Copps saw all the members of their blended “Brady Bunch family” as his own children, and that he was an important part of his life for more than 40 years.

“Jack loved our community and was deeply committed to education,” he said.

Bullock said his family invites the community to attend a celebration of life event for Copps, Tuesday, Nov. 12, at Central School, starting at 3:30 p.m. Afterwards, there will be a reception at Brothers Tapworks, the taproom Bullock and his brother Bill own.