Kevin Francis O'Keeffe

Kevin Francis O'Keeffe was, by turn, a sportswriter, a public servant, a husband, a father, a brother, and a friend to all. After a battle with heart valve failure, he died Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at 64.

O'Keeffe was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and shortly after moved to Chicago, where he spent his formative years. He went to Trinity University in San Antonio, where he studied journalism. He worked as a sportswriter at the San Antonio Express-News for a quarter of a century. While he wrote about everything from high school sports to tennis, he was most known for his writing about the San Antonio Spurs. He won multiple awards for his work as one of the sports section's columnists. In 1996, the Headliners Foundation of Texas recognized his groundbreaking report on violence against women by athletes as an extraordinary achievement in specialty reporting.

While San Antonians knew him best for his writing, O'Keeffe spent the last 17 years of his life working as a public servant for the state of Texas in Austin, first as speechwriter to then-attorney general John Cornyn, then in the same office's Child Support Division. But to simply talk about O'Keeffe in regard to his work would be to do his memory a disservice, for he was known best to many as a cherished, generous friend. There was no person O'Keeffe met that he didn't want to learn more about. From co-workers to column subjects to grocery store clerks, O'Keeffe found friendship in every corner of his world.

Nowhere was that more true than in his own family. O'Keeffe is survived by wife Cynthia O'Keeffe, son Kevin Patrick O'Keeffe, and sister Kathleen O'Keeffe Fairchild. O'Keeffe inspired — and continues to inspire — great love and kindness in those who knew him best. His son, who now lives in Brooklyn, New York, carries on his legacy as a journalist.

Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, September 5, 2016 at Weed-Corley-Fish at 3125 North Lamar Blvd. in Austin.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made in memory of Kevin F. O'Keeffe to The Los Angeles Loyolan Annual Scholarship at Loyola Marymount University, the alma mater of his son, to support and inspire young journalists. Please make checks payable to Loyola Marymount University and send donations to: Alma Vorst, Development Services, Loyola Marymount University, One LMU Drive, Suite 2800, Los Angeles, CA 90045-2659.