Jeanette Osborn

The Alpha Society

Jan (Jeanette) G. McElwee Osborn has passed away. Jan McElwee was a tireless mainstay of our giving community, a trusted advisor to both philanthropies and nonprofits in Southern California. She was dedicated to fostering the organizations, programs, projects, ideas, aspirations, and dreams that make our community a better place to live. During her long career, first as the head of community relations and charitable contributions for Carter Hawley Hale Stores and then as an invaluable consultant to dozens of philanthropic institutions and nonprofit organizations throughout our community, Jan McElwee made an incalculable degree of improvement to the quality of life in Southern California by facilitating collaborative efforts among leading local foundations; by supporting innovative approaches to community-based education, music education, and women’s issues; by demonstrating an unwavering commitment to preserving and promoting the past, present, and future of the arts; and, perhaps most importantly, by proving that providing services for those who need them most results in the most benefits for us all. Born and raised in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, Jan received her Master’s degree in music education and ethnomusicology from Kent State University, served on the faculty of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, and was a guest lecturer at Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University in Mumbai, India. Before completing her doctoral work at UCLA in the field of ethnomusicology (with a specialty in North Indian classical music), Jan was lured away by Carter Hawley Hale, which launched her career in the world of Southern California nonprofits, where, with patience and aplomb, she thrived in the undefined space of consultancy. Her knowledge and relationships ran deep, and she drew no distinction between client and friend. Her dedication to our community was “fueled by a love of humankind and an intolerance of injustice.” Jan was the first woman to serve as Board Chair of Southern California Grantmakers. She also served on the Board of Councilors for USC Civic Engagement and on the Community Advisory Board for the California State University, Northridge, Center for Southern California Studies. She was Board Chair for the Emerging Markets Development Corporation, and she served on the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare, California Advisory Board. She was a founding board member of Community Partners, served on the board of The Asia Society/California Center, was the founding Chair for the Mayor’s Advisory Council on Volunteerism, participated on the Governor’s Commission on Arts Education, was a founding member of the Burbank Cultural Arts Commission, and served as an evaluating panelist for the California Arts Council and for the National Endowment for the Arts. Shortly after the 1992 Civil Unrest in Los Angeles, Jan helped a group of passionate foundation CEOs form Los Angeles Urban Funders, a consortium aimed at addressing racial disparities and economic disinvestment in LA’s low-income neighborhoods. Jan coaxed these CEOs to make their first collective decisions, and, in many ways, LAUF became “the forerunner of philanthropic initiatives focusing on collaboration, place, community revitalization, and collective impact.” With her marriage to the genial and imperturbable Henry Osborn, Jan launched a whirlwind social life of boisterous film clubs, political fundraisers, and a full, year-round calendar of backyard parties and celebrations that were set amidst the profusion of orchids she had patiently planted and painstakingly tended over the years. All this taking place on the rare nights she and her friends weren’t attending a performance somewhere in Southern California. Jan is survived by her loving husband, Henry, and by a wealth of family and friends who miss her gracious cheer, unstinting support, and thoughtful guidance.  She also leaves behind a sister, Kathy Janik and two brothers Curt Haines and Tom McElwee.

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Jeanette Jan Osborn Obituary | The Alpha Society