Louisa McCune, director of the Kirkpatrick Foundation and a longtime advocate for the arts and animal welfare in Oklahoma City, died Saturday after succumbing to a long bout with cancer. She was 54.
Before she was hired in 2011 to oversee the Kirkpatrick Foundation, McCune enjoyed a long successful career in magazine journalism that included stints at Harper's, New York, Mirabella, George, Worth and American Benefactor magazines.
From 1997 to 2011, McCune was editor in chief of Oklahoma Today, which she led to winning more than 250 national and state awards, including three SPJ Best Magazine awards and two Magazine of the Year awards from the International Regional Magazine Association.
At the Kirkpatrick Foundation, McCune co-founded ArtDesk, a quarterly publication showcasing contemporary art, including exhibitions, education and promotion of creative literacy.
As a passionate advocate for animal welfare, McCune spent much of her time campaigning for construction of a new Oklahoma City animal shelter in the months leading up to the successful passage of MAPS 4. She was then appointed by Mayor David Holt to the MAPS 4 neighborhoods subcommittee overseeing development of the animal shelter.
Former Attorney General Drew Edmondson worked closely with McCune to respond to the 2016 State Question 777, which Edmondson argued would have allowed big agriculture to operate without regard to environmental concerns and animal welfare.
The state question, the Right to Farm bill, failed 60% to 40%.
“Because she was working with a nonprofit with limits on campaigning, her mission was to educate, not politick,” Edmondson said. “Her education proved to be crucial to the outcome. The more people knew, the less supportive people were to that measure.”
McCune also served on theboard of Patrons of OKC Animal Welfare andwas past board president of Animal Grantmakers (2020) and, in 2021, served as committee chairman for the Philanthropy Southwest Annual Conference.
Christian Keesee, chairman of the Kirkpatrick Foundation, said McCune approached challenges and concerns with the inquisitiveness of a journalist.
“We were perfect philanthropic partners,” Keesee said. “We believed in each other and each other’s abilities.”
Keesee said McCune was “very much hands on” and wasn’t content with simply writing checks. He recalled how McCune drove to Ada when she learned a casino employee was trapping raccoons and then drowning them in trash cans filled with water.
After telling the employee to stop the barbaric treatment of raccoons, Keesee said McCune contacted Chickasaw Gov. BillAnoatubby, who was quick to respond.
“She worked for the benefit of arts and animal well-being until the week before she died,” Keesee said. “It didn’t have to be helping the grandest people. She was drawn to the underdogs. Louisa McCune was a true champion for all — whether people or animals.”
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In a 2020 interview with The Oklahoman, McCune credited her grandmother, Louise Rucks, for inspiring much of her career. Ruck’s column “Hound Hill” ran in The Oklahoman for 36 years.
“In the mid-1950s, she was named National Dog Writer of the Year twice by the Dog Writers Association of America,” McCune said in the 2020 interview. “Also, my grandfather on my father’s side was a published poet. So I come from a literary lineage of animal-loving people.”
McCune was 40 when she started her second career as director of the influential Kirkpatrick Foundation, which distributes about $3 million annually in grants and charitable activities, and to date has given more than $67 million.
“Glass ceilings just never occurred to me,” McCune said. “My mother was a housewife and very content in her role, but she also owned every book written by Gloria Steinem. I have the freedom to say these things because my generation — Generation X — reaped the benefits of my mother’s generation.”
McCune was the third person to oversee the Kirkpatrick Foundation in its 69-year history.
“My grandparents Eleanor and John had been friends with her grandparents,” Keesee said. “I knew Louisa. I thought her energy level and inquisitiveness would be perfect for the foundation.”
Keesee credited McCune with starting ArtDesk. He said she quickly took on his late mother Joan’s passion for animal welfare when a portion of the family’s assets were dedicated to animal well-being.
Holt said McCune’s passing is “deeply felt” as a result of at least two distinct chapters in her life that left a legacy in Oklahoma City.
“The first was her work at Oklahoma Today, which was really groundbreaking,” Holt said. “There are many things I can think of that are more widely known about our city and state because of her choices to highlight them two decades ago at Oklahoma Today.”
Holt also praised McCune’s work at the Kirkpatrick Foundation and her support for the city's new animal shelter.
“Louisa did so much, but probably it is her work on behalf of animals that will be most remembered,” Holt said. “Without Louisa’s persistence, the city’s new state of the art animal shelter would likely not have made the final MAPS 4 cut. Louisa’s legacy will live on for decades to come and she will be greatly missed.”
Nancy Anthony, who as the director of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation worked closely with McCune, said she continued to work through last week.
“She had been more ill than we realized,” Anthony said. “We didn’t know, or she didn’t want us to know. Within the last week I was on a Zoom call with her, and she was very engaged.”
Anthony said the arts and animal welfare were among an array of issues that caught her attention.
“She was going to keep plowing away to see what she could accomplish,” Anthony said. “She didn’t take anything on in a small way. The few things she took on, she went after it in a very aggressive way. In philanthropy, it’s easy to sit back, dole out money and let others do the work. That wasn’t her.”
McCune and the Kirkpatrick Foundation have been instrumental in funding reporting positions at The Oklahoman, including a government accountability reporter and two Native American journalism fellowships.
Ray Rivera, executive editor of The Oklahoman, said he was heartbroken by the news.
"Louisa was a dynamo of energy," he said. "She was passionate about journalism, the ethical treatment of animals, the arts and conservation and her enthusiasm for all of these causes was infectious, even as she battled cancer.I was blessed to get to know her these last few years and will miss her and all she brought to Oklahoma greatly."
Rivera said the two had exchanged text messages just last week while he was on vacation. She was excited thatNicholas Kristof,of The New York Times, had recently cited the Kirkpatrick Foundation's report on the extreme confinement ofpregnant pigs on factory farmsin Oklahoma.It was an example of how committed she was to her causes even in the throes of illness, Rivera said.
McCune is survived by three sons, Mac, Rucks and Edward. Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday atWestminster Presbyterian Church.In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Louisa McCune Family Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center Education Fund at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation.
