Social-service agency loses a key leader

Leah McCollough, was "a remarkable leader" who guided Hopelink through several significant events, according to a recent posting on local social-service agency's Web site.

"In everything Leah touched, she brought intelligence, eloquence and compassion," said Linda Benson, Hopelink's development director.

Her unexpected death is a blow to the agency and to the area's nonprofit community, Benson said.

According to associates, Ms. McCollough suffered a coronary embolism and died last Thursday at her Bellevue home. She was 43.

Ms. McCollough's association with Hopelink, the Redmond-based nonprofit that serves people in need in North and East King County, was the result of the agency's merger with the Eastside Literacy Council. She was ELC's board chairwoman and a principal in the transition with Hopelink's board in 2000.

She chaired Hopelink's board for a two-year term, from 2005, and held other leadership positions with the agency, Benson said. She also was current board president of the Women's Funding Alliance of Seattle.

"I know I speak for the entire board in saying Hopelink has lost an extraordinary champion and we have lost a dear friend," said Julia Walters-Burns, chairwoman of its board of directors.

In recent years, Ms. McCollough had run her own business, LCM Consulting, as an executive development coach. Earlier, she was director of corporate and foundation relations for Bellevue's Overlake Hospital Medical Center, and had professional associations with Ashesi University of Ghana, and Passages Northwest and Powerful Voices, local programs for adolescent girls.

She also was associated with the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and the Northwest Development Officers Association, and was lauded for her wealth of experience in fundraising.

"She knew how to connect people," said longtime friend Robin Lorenzini, of Mercer Island.

Born in the Detroit area, she had moved to the Northwest in 1996 after undergraduate work at Duke University and earning a law degree at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, specializing in nonprofit organizational management.

She is survived by her parents, Drs. John and Carole McCollough of Southfield, Mich., and brothers John S. McCollough and Douglas McCollough, also in the Michigan area.

A funeral is set for Saturday in Southfield, with private burial. A memorial gathering will be at 11 a.m. Jan. 24 at Seattle Culture Center, 3438 S.E. 148th St. in Tukwila.

Remembrances are suggested to the Leah C. McCollough Legacy Fund, in care of The Women's Funding Alliance, 603 Stewart St., Suite 207, Seattle, WA 98101.

Charles E. Brown: 206-464-2206 or cbrown@seattletimes.com