Tucson philanthropist, community activist Joan Kaye Cauthorn dies at 75

Joan Kaye Cauthorn

Tucson is a little quieter, less bright these days.

Philanthropist and community activist Joan Kaye Cauthorn died Sunday after a long illness. She was 75.

“Joan was enormous in Tucson,” said C. Donald Hatfield, editor/publisher of the now-closed Tucson Citizen. “Wherever you’d go, you’d see her or some trace of her.”

“She was a force of nature,” said Nina Trasoff, a former Tucson City Council member and a longtime friend of Cauthorn.

Cauthorn had an easy laugh and a big, open smile, two attributes that helped draw people to her. The retired therapist was enthusiastically active in Democratic politics, the Arizona Theatre Company, the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona, Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona, Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona, the UA Foundation, Reveille Mens Chorus and Chicanos Por La Causa.

Among the organizations that have honored her for her commitment and leadership are the Tucson chapter of the NAACP, the Arizona Theatre Company, the YWCA and the Tucson Human Relations Commission.

She would give her money and her time. And she was relentless in connecting people who could help each other.

“She was so essential to so many things,” said Trasoff. “To have lived a life and made that much of a difference — it’s wonderful to have known somebody like that.”

Cauthorn was born in the Bronx and moved to Tucson in 1970 with her then-husband, Allan Biegel. She was a graduate of Syracuse University and earned her master’s in social work at the University of Arizona. She specialized in family and couples counseling. In her community work, she was a ferocious fundraiser for causes she was passionate about.

Cauthorn’s spacious, art-filled home in El Encanto neighborhood often served as her venue of choice, inviting big crowds in to meet celebrities, raise money and to make sure the people she thought should know each other got past the handshake phase.

In 2000, Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona asked Cauthorn if she would be willing to host a fundraiser featuring Jane Fonda. It was short notice, but Cauthorn jumped in and 300 crowded into her home; $65,000 was raised.

When opera singer Roberta Peters, a friend of the family, was in Tucson in the ’90s, Cauthorn packed her house with people again. This time, it wasn’t to raise money but to introduce her opera-loving friends to Peters. “She wanted to make a difference in people’s lives,” said Trasoff.

It was in bringing people together where Cauthorn really excelled.

“She knew every single person’s number in Tucson,” said Jessica Andrews, ATC’s executive director emeritus. “It was just amazing. She was so connected.”

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While Cauthorn gave freely with her money, her time and her connections, it was her small kindnesses that many appreciated.

“When my parents moved here, she helped me get them settled,” says actor David Alexander Johnston.

“For me, she was always a major emotional support and loved me like a family member.”

Hatfield remembers when he and his wife, the late Sandy Hatfield, first came to Tucson in 1986, when he took over as publisher of the Citizen. They did not know a soul.

They met Cauthorn in the first few days they were here. When Sandy Hatfield returned to their Huntington, West Virginia to pack for the move to Tucson, Cauthorn called.

 “She said ‘You probably don’t remember me but I was the funny one in the red Mickey Mouse t-shirt,'" Hatfield recalls. "'I know you are probably in an odd state (with the move), but I just want you to know you have a friend in Tucson.’ Sandy said it meant so much to her.”

“She had ... an incredibly generous spirit,” says Kaye-Cauthorn’s daughter Jennifer Marsden.

Cauthorn’s passion for the arts extended to individual artists. As her home was often filled with people, Cauthorn decided it might as well be an art gallery, too. Tucson’s artists gave her works for her walls, and she in turn made sure guests knew they were for sale. It wasn’t unusual to see people leaving her parties with a piece of artwork.

Johnston is another artist who felt the warmth of Kaye-Cauthorn’s attention.

“She saw my work on stage and became a champion of me,” says Johnston. “She cheered me on like a parent, and believed in me.”

“I really cannot imagine her not being here,” says Trasoff.

“I simply cannot imagine this community and this world without the force of nature that was Joan Kaye Cauthorn.”

A service is planned for Sunday, Sept. 9, at 11 a.m. at Evergreen Mortuary, 3015 N. Oracle Road. A date has not yet been set for a celebration of her life.

Cauthorn is preceded in death by her husband, Bob Cauthorn. In addition to her two daughters — Jill Kohl and Jennifer Marsden — Cauthorn is survived by her grandchildren Jeremy and Siena Kohl, and Ayla Marsden; and siblings Nancy Karagis and Howard Kaye, both of New York City.