The staff of Kirkpatrick Foundation mourns the loss of Louisa McCune, who served as its third executive director from 2011 until her death on August 10, 2024. As executive director, she was a tireless champion for the arts and culture, education, animal wellbeing, environmental conservation, and historic preservation.

Under McCune’s direction, the foundation established two animal wellbeing initiatives for the state of Oklahoma, to make the state “the safest and most humane place to be an animal by 2032” and to increase Oklahoma’s cat and dog “live release” rate to 90 percent by 2025. Both efforts are a part of the foundation’s Safe & Humane program. In 2016, McCune led a non-partisan public education initiative related to State Question 777, which was soundly defeated by Oklahoma voters.

She was co-founder and editor-in-chief of the foundation’s award-winning contemporary art magazine, ArtDesk.

Her impact and commitment to the causes and people she believed in are unparalleled. We extend our condolences to her family which include three sons and their father, five dogs, and a cat.

Memorial donations may be directed to Red Ridge Nature Preserve, Oliver and Friends Farm Sanctuary, Enid SPCA, or the McCune Fund for Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center at Oklahoma City Community Foundation.