In Memoriam

Library Marks the Passing of a Great Friend

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

In Memoriam

Library supporter Donald J. Hall passed away on October 13, 2024.

Kansas City Public Library Remembers Impact of Late Board Member

Friday, July 19, 2024

In Memoriam

Longtime board of trustees member Dave Mayta passed away on July 16, 2024.

Remembering the Namesake of the Irene H. Ruiz Biblioteca de las Americas

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

In Memoriam

Ruiz died Saturday, September 3, 2023. She was 102 and leaves a legacy of devotion and service evidenced by far more than her name on a modest sign outside the Ruiz Branch. It extends to the cultural richness of the collections inside the library, to dozens of invaluable oral histories that Ruiz gathered from early...

Library Remembers Marilou Joyner, a ‘True, Strong, Compassionate Leader in Our Community’

Monday, June 5, 2023

In Memoriam

An educator, businessperson, and champion of reading and literacy, Marilou Joyner served on the Library’s board of trustees from 2014 to 2019, where she “worked tirelessly as an advocate for the Library within the community while also advocating for the community as a representative on the board,” her fellow truste...

Author David McCullough, a Favorite at the Kansas City Public Library, Dies at 89

Monday, August 8, 2022

In Memoriam

David McCullough, the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize award-winning author of 14 books, including presidential biographies on Harry Truman and...

The Library Remembers Vartan Gregorian

Friday, April 16, 2021

In Memoriam

Library News

Vartan Gregorian, who died Thursday, April 15, left a towering legacy as a scholar and humanitarian, stretching from his presidencies of Brown University and the philanthropic Carnegie Corporation to eight transformative years as head of the New York Public Library. It touches, too, on Kansas City...

Remembering Alvin Sykes: A ‘Dogged, Deeply Infused Passion’

Friday, March 19, 2021

In Memoriam

A school dropout after eighth grade, Alvin Sykes became a fixture in local libraries and emerged as a self-taught human rights activist, working though the justice system on behalf of injured parties – particularly minorities and the poor. He wound up writing history, pushing and prodding until Congres...

Remembering Gabriella Polony Mountain: Art ‘Was My Passion’

Friday, May 22, 2020

Exhibitions

In Memoriam

Gabriella Polony Mountain was passionate, expressive, indelible. And so was the art  created by the namesake of the Rocky and Gabriella Mountain Gallery at the downtown Central Library over a remarkable, 102-year life. Polony Mountain died Monday, May 18, 2020.  

The Library Remembers Pellom McDaniels

Monday, April 20, 2020

In Memoriam

"I had a love affair with Kansas City," the former Chiefs player said. It extended to the Library, which joins in mourning McDaniels' death at age 52.  

Remembering The Call’s Donna Stewart

Monday, April 13, 2020

In Memoriam

A protege of L.H. Bluford Branch namesake Lucile Bluford, Donna Stewart spent more than four decades as a journalist at Kansas City's renowned African American newspaper, The Call,  and formed her own Library connections. Stewart died April 11 at age 65.  