Patricia Julianne Callahan, a public media fundraising executive who helped professionalize the field with software tools and other training, died July 6 in Tucson, Ariz., following a brief illness. She was 81.
Callahan began her public media career in 1972 at KQED in San Francisco, where she directed the station’s auction fundraisers and volunteer program. She moved to PBS headquarters in 1976 to join the Station Independence Program, which developed and acquired pledge programs for stations, as associate director.
Callahan held increasingly responsible leadership positions in fundraising and development at several prominent public media stations over the next 40-some years. She directed membership and development at KERA in Dallas from 1978 to 1981, then joined the Memtrac Group in Irvine, Texas, a software company, as principal and VP for marketing. She later worked as a sales/business unit manager for National Computer Systems, then returned to KERA as VP of development. She moved on to KVIE in Sacramento, Calif., as VP of development; and, in 2003, moved to WETA in Washington, D.C., to work as executive director of community relations.
In 2008, Arizona Public Media in Tucson recruited Callahan to rebuild its membership and direct-mail fundraising programs as director of membership. After 15 years of service to AZPM, she retired in April 2023, following her 80th birthday.
In addition to her work with stations, Callahan was a master teacher for the PBS Pledge Academy and a founding station member of PledgeTRAC, a TRAC Media service that helped stations improve the effectiveness of pledge breaks. She also served on numerous other industry panels and associations throughout her career.
“Pat was a mentor, friend, and inspiration to many at AZPM, in the Tucson community, and in the public media industry,” said AZPM CEO Jack Gibson. “She will be remembered not only for her peerless fundraising acumen, but also for bringing her energy, unmatched enthusiasm, warmth, sincerity, and dedication to everything she did for AZPM and public media stations across the country and their members.”
Callahan described herself as an “Army brat” and lived in a variety of places throughout her childhood, including an extended stint in Germany, where her father was stationed following World War II. She studied at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where she earned a degree in social sciences. She later earned a master’s degree in history from the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, Calif.
Callahan had a multitude of friends throughout the public media system but no surviving family members aside from her adopted AZPM and public media family, who grieve her loss.
At her request, Callahan’s ashes will be divided between Tucson and Half Moon Bay, Calif., near her mother’s. Her father is at rest in Arlington National Cemetery. A memorial celebration of her life is being planned for later this year in Tucson.