Kathleen Ward Dragovich

Ms. Kathleen Francis Ward Dragovich died peacefully on November 28, 2017 in Ellicott City, Maryland at the age of 55. Ms. Dragovich is survived by her husband, William Dragovich, son Thomas Eli Dragovich, siblings, Patrick Ward of Baltimore City, Tracy Ward of Royal Oak, MD, and Megan Ward Carlson of Boring, MD, her nephews, Casey Durkin and Eric Carlson, and her niece, D’Arcy Carlson.

A Memorial Gathering, with a Reception to follow, is scheduled for Sunday, December 10, 2017 at 11:30 a.m. in the Vollmer Center at Cylburn Arboretum, 4915 Greenspring Avenue. All are welcome to attend and celebrate Ms. Dragovich’s life. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Parks & People Foundation, 2100 Liberty Heights Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21217. Condolences can be sent to Bill Dragovich at [email protected]. The family would like to thank her caregivers, and in particular Roisin Connolly, M.D., for their help and kindness during Ms. Dragovich’s long and courageous fight against cancer. If the parking lot at Cylburn Arboretum is full, please do not park on the grass. There should be plenty of additional parking on Greenspring Avenue.

Ms. Dragovich was born on September 23, 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland to Thomas Henry Ward, an attorney and later Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge, and Joyce Ann MacCartney Ward, a property manager. Ms. Dragovich was raised in Bolton Hill. She attended Mount Royal Elementary School through sixth grade, the School of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen for seventh and eighth grades, and graduated from the Institute of Notre Dame High School in 1980. She went on to the University of Richmond, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in journalism, in 1984. There she was elected Westhampton Class President in her senior year, and became an avid participant in whitewater canoe trips while a member of the University’s Outing Club.

She played a key role in her father’s successful campaign to become a judge of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City in 1983. After graduating from college the following year, Ms. Dragovich returned to Baltimore, and began working as an intern at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where she was soon offered a full-time position and ultimately rose to become the museum’s Public Information Coordinator. She coordinated the museum staff’s annual participation in the city’s Thanksgiving Parade, and worked to promote many unique art exhibitions, such as those on the Bauhaus movement and on Dr. Seuss.

After being recruited away from the Museum of Art to become Public Relations Manager for the Maryland Science Center, Ms. Dragovich displayed a flair for gaining recognition for the Center. In order to promote a dinosaur exhibit, she once had a stegosaurus placed on the back of a flatbed truck and had it driven around the beltway during rush hour. Traffic reporters reported that there was a dinosaur spotted on I-695. She promoted the IMAX presentation of a Rolling Stones concert film by having large artificial stones tumbled down the hill outside the Science Center.

Ms. Dragovich left the Science Center to join Friends of the Family as their Director of Development. At Friends of the Family, she wrote grants and developed some signature events, including an annual thank you trip to Annapolis for all of the mothers and babies in the program, and the Water Cooler Classic, a putt putt golf event involving offices throughout the city.

Next, Ms. Dragovich was recruited to work as Vice President of Development for the Y of Central Maryland. There, she was responsible for the capital campaign to build the 33rd street Y and served on the Y National Council.

Following the birth of her son, Ms. Dragovich began working as a consultant. Her development and marketing clients included Parks & People Foundation, the Baltimore Medical System, the Better Business Bureau, Urbanite magazine and the Franciscan Center. She was the consultant for Parks & People Foundation’s capital campaign to restore the Druid Hill Park Superintendent’s House and build the nonprofit’s new headquarters. She helped them raise over $9.2 million for the project. Jackie Carrera, the former President and CEO of Parks & People Foundation, recently said, “Kathleen was a gift to the Parks & People Foundation. She provided wise counsel, sound judgment, and practical ideas that helped us reach our goal of restoring a significant part of Druid Hill Park and providing an important neighborhood resource for west Baltimore. Kathleen’s good humor and cool, commonsense personality inspired everyone who knew her. Kathleen left this world a better place, and those of us who had the honor of knowing her are better for it. She will be sorely missed.”

At the same time, Ms. Dragovich was also helping the Baltimore Medical System build the Highlandtown Healthy Living Center, raising over $9 million for that project as well, and obtaining grants to buy art representing the multiculturalism of the patients from local artists.

Eventually, Ms. Dragovich accepted a full-time position with the Baltimore Medical System as Patient Services Coordinator. She went on to assume management of the BMS school based health program. When she first went to visit some of the schools, their health rooms were poor and underequipped. By the time she left, she had raised money to redo almost all of the health centers into contemporary care areas and raised funding that provided for the future support of the programs as well as their administration.

In 1999, she had married Bill Dragovich, originally from South Bend, Indiana, which she once wrote was “the smartest thing I [ever] did.” Together they had their son, Thomas, in 2004. Ms. Dragovich was an extremely loving and devoted mother, and wrote that Thomas was her “greatest joy.”

Ms. Dragovich had a strong belief in public service. She at one time served as President of the Board of The Preservation Society of Fells Point and Federal Hill. In 2010, she ran and was elected to the Columbia Council, representing the Dorsey’s Search community. As a Council Member, she was especially interested in the council’s position on future development in Columbia. She also was proud to help the Council be more transparent in its decision making. Ms. Dragovich served for two years but didn’t run for re-election because her mother had been diagnosed with cancer. Ms. Dragovich herself was diagnosed with breast cancer in July of 2012.

Always a strong supporter of the arts, Ms. Dragovich was a subscriber to Center Stage, and a passionate reader whose favorite authors included Jane Austen, Alice Hoffman and Willa Cather. She enjoyed attending concerts by contemporary musicians ranging from Neil Young to Sarah McLachlan. Carole King’s music was a personal favorite of hers.

Ms. Dragovich also loved spending time during all seasons on the Ward family farm on the Cheat River in Tucker County, West Virginia.