After careful consideration, I decided to talk less about Ms. McKinney's personal life and focus more on her achievements. While I feel that her upbringing might have added a more personal element to her life, I felt that snapshots of her career in politics and teaching would get across a better representation of who she was to the community at large and grab the reader's attention. The obituary is as follows:
Obituary for Hannah McKinney
Hannah E. McKinney, mayor of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and professor of Economics and Business at Kalamazoo College since 1989, died last night at the age of 52 due to food poisoning at Kalamazoo College. Mayor McKinney’s husband, James, told reporters that the beloved political figure died after dining at Kalamazoo College’s cafeteria at approximately 6:45 at night. No other information was released in regards to the death.
Mayor McKinney was the publisher of several books, including “The Development of Local Public Services, 1650-1869: Lessons from Middletown, CT” by Greenwood Press in 1995. She also co-directed “Convening our Community” from 1999-2001, during which time she published several articles based on community building.
During her teaching career at Kalamazoo College in 1989, Mayor McKinney focused on the professional aspect of economics. Her area of study dwelt on the issues of urban economics, public finance, and urban planning. Her teachings both reflected this focus and reflected a wide spectrum within her field, as demonstrated in classes such as First-Year Seminars, studies of micro and macro economics, quantitative methods, and issues of urban development. After several years as a professor at the college, Mayor McKinney carried this enthusiasm for economics and development into the wider sphere of the city itself.
Her charisma for reform was first noted during her position on the City’s Planning Commission of Kalamazoo from 1991-1997, during which time she chaired the Comprehensive Plan update and also served on the Downtown Plan committee. After having a taste of political life, Mayor McKinney ran for and obtained political office as vice-mayor of Kalamazoo for four terms, from 1997-2007. During November of 2005, she was elected as mayor of Kalamazoo. In her own words, “it was a difficult campaign because (she didn’t) know whether Kalamazoo has been faced with so many hard issues in decades.” (Kalamazoo Gazette) Even now, issues of job loss, racial unrest, poverty, and tightening budgets are still an issue for Kalamazoo. But the Mayor’s efforts to thaw the icy relations between the cities of Kalamazoo and Portage may provide a solution in the form of inter-city commerce. Her later research efforts included work on the future of small metropolitan areas and work on a National League of Cities project that examined the measures of poverty alleviation in cities across America.
Mayor McKinney was born in 1955, and later received an AB from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a P.H.D in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. She lived with her husband James and their two children on Grande Avenue in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Funeral preparations were made by Truesdale Ansell Funeral Home on Westnedge Avenue, and services will be held at noon this coming Sunday at Allen Chapel Ame Church. Kalamazoo College will hold its own memorial service at 9:00 this coming Monday morning. She will be missed by all.
Throughout her career, Mayor McKinney literally ‘practiced what she preached’ in regards to progressive reform in the economic, political, and educational spheres.
SOURCES:
http://www.kalamazoocity.org/portal/government.php?page_id=263
http://www.kzoo.edu/faculty/profile.php?name=mckinney
Kalamazoo Gazzette, Wednesday November 9, 2005
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