Marion Andrus McCollam (February 8, 1931–September 25, 2026), a planner and arts leader in New Orleans and Houston, died in Houston at 95. Born in New Orleans to Gerald Louis Andrus and Lucile Gordon Isacks Andrus, she graduated from Tulane University in 1952, married Andrew McCollam, Jr., in 1955, and raised three children.
Under New Orleans Mayor Dutch Morial, McCollam served as human affairs and arts coordinator, directed planning for the Duncan Plaza Design Project and the Downtown Development District, and led the Arts Council of New Orleans from 1981 to 1990. At 60, she moved to Houston to head the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County (1991–1998). A leading arts advocate, she recruited and nurtured public arts talent.
Her service included advising the National Endowment for the Arts, National Arts Stabilization, and Working Capital Fund; serving on Tulane’s Newcomb Art Gallery advisory board; and leading the U.S. Urban Arts Federation as president and the National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies as vice chairman. She also served the Urban League of New Orleans, the American Leadership Forum in Houston as a senior fellow, and the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast. She was a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects.
Her honors included the Arts Administrator of the Year award from the Arts Management Institute (1987), the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s Award for Sustained Management Excellence (1989), and the National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies’ Chairman’s Award (1992). She inspired family, friends, and critics and loved music, art, reading, and travel.
She is survived by her children, Andrew, Gerald, and Marion McCollam; grandchildren Kelsey, Alex, and Henry McCollam; and great-grandson Patrick Lee McCollam. Her funeral is Saturday, October 31, at noon at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home in New Orleans, followed by a private burial. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Houston Grand Opera.
Link to the Times-Picayune article written about her life: https://www.nola.com/news/marion-mccollum/article_7994a52e-9c56-43d2-b087-fe90e89e75cf.html
