The year is 1994. The Kansas City Art Institute has a $9 million operating budget but it is running a deficit. Assets minus debts, KCAI is $2 million in the hole, leaving the school in a fragile, even critical, financial condition.

At the time, Ron Cattelino was KCAI's Chief Financial Officer. He didn't know who Charlie Egan was until Charlie walked into his office. With Egan assuming his role on the KCAI Board of Trustees, they were soon having regular phone calls.

"He would call me up and say 'I don't mean to turn you into a pretzel, but could you get me this information...,'" Cattelino said, laughing and acknowledging that Egan had the ability to do a lot for KCAI when armed with the right figures. The requests came often from the tireless advocate.

Charles J. Egan Jr., long serving Hallmark attorney and Hall family counsel, education advocate and benefactor to many, passed away on June 10, 2024, at his home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, surrounded by his family. He was 91-years-old. Read his full obituary here

For past KCAI board members and administrators, Egan's greatest contribution to the school was helping it reach solvency during a period of declining enrollment and outdated facilities. Many said he helped put KCAI on a course to financial stability that it still benefits from today.

Cattelino recalled working with who he called "My two Charlies": Charlie Egan and Charlie Sosland. He remembers them operating in tandem within the philanthropic community, effectively expressing why it was important to support the arts.

Sosland, KCAI Board Chair at the time, described Egan as a "Boston Brahmin." 

"He was formal, always wore a suit. And he was more authoritative than warm. He wasn't a soft-spoken politician. He was straightforward," Sosland said.

"Too straightforward to be Board Chair," Sosland remembers Egan saying about himself.

"He had this amazing energy. He would say 'Fundraising is a contact sport.' And he meant that you had to physically get people to donate money," Sosland said with a chuckle.

Another former KCAI Board member, Gary Gradinger, said Egan's position as Chief Legal Counsel at Hallmark (as well as his relationship with Barbara Marshall - a longtime trustee of the Kansas City Art Institute) allowed for opportunities in a time of financial challenge.

"Barbara knew there was no way to sustain the school without an endowment cushion. So, the 'Charlies' asked Barbara if they raised $5 million in five years, would she match it?" Gradinger said.

"Of course, the answer was yes," he continued. "And in a nod to how highly regarded Barbara was, the $5 million was raised in less than one year!"

But this turn-around era was not without pain. Perhaps none knew this better than "Ms. Guts." That's the name Egan gave to Kathleen Collins who became President of the Kansas City Art Institute in 1996.

"I remember the faculty was promised raises and there was no money," Collins said.

"We had to go down to zero raises for a number of years. Imagine being a new president and having to tell people this. It was a very difficult time for the institution," she said.

"But Charlie was right there with me and never left my side. He enabled me to stay with the program," she said.

"Charlie used to call me Ms. Guts. After I was gone for more than a decade he was still calling me Ms. Guts. He always made me feel like I had stood up to the challenge and he stood there with me, recognizing it wasn't easy," Collins said.

When Collins left in 2011, KCAI was in much better shape. Enrollment was up, salaries were increasing, buildings were going up, and the school was living within its budget, she said.

And she attributes much of that to Egan.

"Charlie was a doer and a great thinker. A very smart person who was not afraid of tackling problems. Once he latched onto something he didn't let go until it happened," Collins said.

Gradinger, describing himself as a fly on the wall to the rebuilding process, put it even more explicitly.

"Make no mistake," he said, "Without Charlie Egan we might not be having this conversation. KCAI was in a very precarious financial position and thanks to Charlie's love for the school, we might not have otherwise made it."