Roger Kotoske, a longtime Denver painter and sculptor and a teacher who could fire up students, was found dead in his home in Champaign, Ill., on Nov. 19. He was 77. A celebration of his life is planned in Colorado in June. Kotoske 'was one of the most inventive and original artists we've ever had in Colorado,' said Hugh Grant, founding director of Denver's Kirkland Museum, where some of Kotoske's works are on display. One of his sculptures, huge bright red boxes standing on their corners, is in Burns Park. Kotoske taught his students to 'try different things and could get them all fired up and excited,' said longtime friend Bob Mangold of Denver. Kotoske and Mangold taught at the same time at the University of Denver, and Mangold went on to become a professor of art at Metropolitan State College of Denver. 'He was very, very exploratory,' said Lee Stark, a Loveland sculptor. 'He was a great artist and wonderful teacher.' Kotoske divided his time between Illinois and Silver Plume, Colo., where he owned two houses. Kotoske worked in almost every medium: wood, plywood, wires, cables, resin and fiberglass, 'or he'd paint colors on colors on colors to give a 3-D look,' said his brother Jerome of Los Gatos, Calif. Roger Allen Kotoske was born Jan. 4, 1933, in South Bend, Ind., and went to the University of Notre Dame. His brother recalled that their father, Michael Kotoske, let then-teenager Roger Kotoske use the basement as his studio. He did a mural of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, but when Michael Kotoske found him painting a woman's breast, his reaction was, 'Oh, my God; I don't want a half-naked woman in this house,' he said. 'Roger was so poor, he didn't have a suitcase, so he carried his belongings to college in a big Kotex box,' recalled his daughter, Tamar Tomson of Santa Fe. Kotoske earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in fine arts at DU and later taught there and at the University of Illinois in Champaign. His works are in many private collections, and others have been displayed at the Smithsonian, the James Yu Gallery in New York City, the University of Illinois, the University of Hong Kong, Hwa Kang Museum in Taiwan and the Denver Art Museum. After his first marriage ended in divorce, Kotoske married Helen Tomson in 1961, and he adopted her daughter, Tamar. Helen Kotoske died in 1979. Also preceding him in death was his longtime partner, Sarita Levin. In addition to his daughter and brother, Kotoske is survived by four other brothers: Thomas Kotoske of Palo Alto, Calif.; and Donald Kotoske, Brian Kotoske and David Kotoske, all of South Bend, Ind. 