Patti Jeanne Harrington, who was 76 when she died Dec. 25 at her Denver home, was the longest-serving executive director of the Denver Foundation, which she shepherded from relative obscurity to its place as a pre-eminent philanthropic institution.
The granddaughter of Denver Foundation co-founder Martin O’Fallon and daughter of Margaret and Clarence “Pete” Harrington, she attended a parochial school in Greenwich, Conn., and graduated from Colorado College.
As a young adult, she underwent experimental surgery to counter myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that at the time was considered a death sentence. Her successful recuperation from the pioneering surgery was reported in major medical journals.
In the early 1970s, Harrington became a member of the Denver Foundation’s board of directors. She assumed the executive director title in 1976 and aggressively nurtured the once-modest organization into a benefactor that awards more than $1 million annually in grants to nonprofits. She retired in 1989.
“Patti Jeanne Harrington planted a whole lot of the seeds we’re harvesting years, and decades, later,” said David Miller, the Denver Foundation’s current executive director. “A lot of our growth in recent years is due in part to people Patti Jeanne worked with 20 years ago.”
Gregarious and diplomatic, Harrington cultivated friendships and partnerships in person and over the phone. She possessed an exceptional skill for pairing people and organizations.
“That was her greatest quality – keeping people connected, whether at work or in the family,” said her niece, Meegan Carey.
Being the Denver Foundation’s executive director required raising and investing money, as well as giving it away, along with maintaining a presence in the community and running a smooth staff and directors’ board. Harrington’s workdays often began early, with business and government meetings in austere rooms, and ended well after dark in the luxurious climate of society fundraisers.
When her mouth felt stretched from smiling so much, Harrington found solace in the poodles and Maltese dogs that kept her company and in thinking about the people whose organizations benefited from the Denver Foundation’s grants.
“She loved this institution because it served so many different needs in the community,” Miller said. “She wasn’t one of those people who was exclusively about the arts or education or health care. She was very broad in her interests and her passions.”
Harrington never married. Her parents and three siblings preceded her in death.
A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 2375 E. Arizona Ave. in Denver. The family suggests memorial donations to the Patricia J. Harrington Fund/The Denver Foundation, 950 S. Cherry St., Suite 200, Denver, CO 80246.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
