KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Alice Kitchen, an advocate for human rights for decades, died Friday, Nov. 14, in Kansas City, Missouri, at the age of 83.
Family was with Kitchen when she died, according to an obituary from the Catholic religious institute The Loretto Community.
Kitchen had been a co-member of Loretto since 2004. She also served as director of social services for Children's Mercy Hospital and on the Kansas City Housing Authority board.
Her advocacy even extended beyond the Kansas City area, including being a part of human rights missions to Central America.
KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas released a statement Saturday morning regarding Kitchen's passing, which reads below.
This week, Kansas City lost the embodiment of selfless service and persistent advocacy in our community with the death of Alice Kitchen at 83.
In recent years, Alice may be known best for her strong work for gender equity, but her efforts include almost any issue that could help people in our community succeed: gun violence reduction; low-barrier shelter for the unhoused; and human rights here in Kansas City and anywhere in the world. She held us accountable as elected officials and community leaders, nudging us respectfully, but regularly in areas we needed to do better. She was usually right.
Alice cared little for titles, the trappings of positions, or apparently, even pay for her efforts. She cared a lot about those who've known struggle and for whom we could make life better.
While her legacy will inspire us to continue to lift up our institutions and those around us, her passing saddens many of us who knew the strong-willed child of Brookside who went on to change our community and our world. I'll miss her stopping me at City Hall. I'll miss her emails at any hour. We'll all miss her experience.
My condolences to all those who knew her and loved her.
KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas
Funeral arrangements are currently pending.
—
