In Memory of Katharine Pearson, 1955-2008

From the blog of Al Etmanski

‘Mac’ greets everyone who walks into the offices of the McConnell Foundation in Montreal.  ‘Mac’ is a wooden sculpture of a man with arms outstretched, his mid-section hollow save for his big heart.  For those who never made it to the office Katharine was the human heart of the Foundation.  She embodied hospitality and diplomacy, smoothing out differences, straightening and fixing up, enabling our diverse temperaments and perspectives to move in the same direction.

One week before she died Vickie and I had a chance for a brief visit.  She was still doing it – welcoming, encouraging, engaging, inspiring – gracious and calm.

She died peacefully on Saturday May 24th, this dear friend of PLAN, of people with disabilities and their families, of Vickie and me.

We met Katharine when she was our McConnell Foundation program officer – but that never sat right with her. From the start it was clear we were fellow activists.  She had a burning commitment to social justice and shared a common determination to change the way Canadians with disabilities participated in society.  While the Foundation has been our biggest supporter, Katharine was our early champion no more so than when she convinced her colleagues and Board to fund the groundbreaking Philia Dialogue on Caring Citizenship.

As her responsibilities at McConnell increased, we became friends and eventually colleagues. From 2004 – 2006 Katharine, Vickie and I traveled around Canada searching for daring social innovators – people who imagined and implemented bold solutions to long standing social problems.  Under the banner of Sustaining Social Innovation (SSI), we studied their methods, looking for the common and deeper patterns of their work. At her suggestion we often distilled their essence over whisky at the Ritz on West Sherbrooke.  (She would have indulged me this pun as she did so many others!)

She wrote about these insights in her award winning publication Accelerating Our Impact: Philanthropy, Innovation and Social Change.

Eventually our collaboration led to the creation of the Social Innovation Generation initiative (SiG) dedicated to accelerating the impact and scale of social and environmental solutions.  Once more Katharine the bold explorer was leading grant-makers in North America into uncharted territory.

Her grandfather, Lester Pearson in his 1957 Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance speech invoked Arnold Toynbee to illuminate his central theme: "The twentieth century will be chiefly remembered by future generations not as an era of political conflicts or technical inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective." 
But Pearson was cautious, ‘I hope he was not too optimistic ’, he concluded. Perhaps it was a challenge.

Not to worry Mr. Prime Minister.  Your grand daughter was already absorbing your hope and ideals, taking up your challenge and ultimately making them come alive.  Katharine not only dared to think and act big.  She also enabled the rest of us to settle for nothing less than massive change.

‘Mac’ is doing double duty at the Foundation now.  While Katharine’s heart may have stopped beating her gentle, steady, rhythmic life force is eternal.

To her sons Graeme and Alex, her mother, Senator Landon Pearson, her sisters and brother and to Joel, we offer our loving memories.  Count on us, her friends and colleagues to join you in keeping dear Katharine’s spirit alive.

With Love
Al Etmanski and Vickie Cammack

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