‘We all benefit from her work’: Community leader Ann Lynch dies at 89

Longtime community and hospital leader Ann Lynch is remembered as a bold person with a sense of humor who advocated for causes like health care and public education.

Lynch, who co-founded a few local nonprofit organizations and served a tenure as the National PTA president, died on Dec. 23. She was 89.

Las Vegas communications consultant Sig Rogich, who met Lynch about 40 years ago, said Lynch had an “infectious personality” and was able to laugh at herself.

Rogich described her as feisty, devoted, loyal, smart and energetic.

He also said she was a wonderful woman who was devoted to her family, friends and community, and “you couldn’t find a nicer person.”

“I just have nothing but good things to say about her,” Rogich said. “Everybody that knew her loved her. She had a great sense of humor.”

Lynch moved to Las Vegas in 1959. After working in a couple of other jobs, she joined the Sunrise Health System.

She stayed at Sunrise for about 45 years until 2010, working her way up to becoming the vice president of marketing and government affairs.

Lynch was instrumental in founding several local nonprofit organizations, including the Sunrise Children’s Foundation, Public Education Foundation, Ronald McDonald House in Las Vegas and Las Vegas HEALS.

Lynch served as president of the Nevada and National PTA organizations. And she is the namesake of a Clark County School District elementary school in the east valley.

“Affectionately known as ‘Mrs. PTA,’ Ann Lynch advocated for the children of Clark County and across the country and championed the importance of parental involvement,” the school district said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Ann will be forever remembered for her relentless passion, wit and sense of humor.”

The district said it was saddened to learn of her death and “proud that her name graces one of our campuses as a reminder of her contributions to our students and the community.”

Lynch’s nephew Andrew Kerr-Thompson, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, said his aunt always had a positive outlook.

“My father Gordon Thompson, her younger brother, would call her the family cheerleader,” Kerr-Thompson wrote in an email to the Review-Journal.

“She was not shy about expressing her love and affection for us, and our visits had many hugs and kisses, and phone calls always ended with a ‘Love you and miss you, darlin’,” he wrote.

Kerr-Thompson wrote that his aunt was always very focused on other people and took a sincere interest in how they were doing.

She’d often ask about his friends that she’d only met once or twice and send them her best wishes.

“Within our family she was modest about her achievements, but when she had an elementary school named after her, we all took a drive to go see it the next time we visited and it was clear to all of us how happy and proud she was,” Kerr-Thompson wrote.

Instrumental in launching nonprofit organizations

The Nevada community has lost a great leader, said Jan Jones Blackhurst, board chairwoman for the Public Education Foundation.

“For decades, Ann worked to improve our community and advocate for children by attending every major community event, influencing policy at the state Legislature, and serving on countless boards,” Blackhurst wrote in a statement to the Review-Journal. “Her dedication to our public school students and the Public Education Foundation was particularly touching.”

Lynch was one of the Public Education Foundation’s founding board members starting in 1991 and “her commitment was unwavering until her passing,” Blackhurst wrote.

“Even when she was housebound, she always participated in our board meetings by phone,” she wrote. “Ann Lynch was a force to be reckoned with and she is one of my personal community heroes.”

A statement from the Sunrise Children’s Foundation describes Lynch as “one of Nevada’s most recognized children’s and education advocates.”

Lynch was one of the foundation’s co-founders, and was dedicated to improving education and the lives of children, according to the foundation.

“Ann will be forever remembered for her sassy and witty comments, especially at many of the board meetings on which she served,” the foundation said. “Ann will be missed by all the lives she touched.”

Lynch was an instrumental part of a community-wide effort in the 1990s to create the first Ronald McDonald House in Las Vegas, said Alyson McCarthy, CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charitities of Greater Las Vegas.

The house, which serves families who travel to Las Vegas for medical care, opened in July 1998. Since then, it has served more than 5,800 families.

It provides housing, homecooked meals, and rides to the from the hospital “so that parents can remain close to their critically ill and injured children,” McCarthy wrote in an email to the Review-Journal.

Lynch was an original member of the ‘“McCoalition,” a nickname for the task force that worked for more than a decade to research, design, fundraise and build the house, McCarthy wrote.

The group included local McDonald’s owner-operators, medical professionals, the Junior League of Las Vegas and community members.

“Ann Lynch was always very proud of the House and its mission of helping families in medical crisis and she will always be a part of the Ronald McDonald House legacy,” McCarthy wrote.

Doug Geinzer, former CEO of Las Vegas HEALS, a nonprofit membership organization for health care workers, described Lynch as an “absolutely amazing woman.”

“I wish everybody carried the same moral compass as Ann Lynch,” he said.

Lynch brought people together, said Geinzer, who was CEO of Las Vegas HEALS for about a decade.

Although hospital systems compete on a day-to-day basis, Lynch expressed that if they wanted to improve health care in the community, they had to work together, Geinzer said.

He met Lynch in the 1990s and got to know her better in the early 2000s. They were among the founders of the Southern Nevada Medical Industry Coalition, which ultimately became Las Vegas HEALS.

Lynch was the organization’s board chair for about a decade starting in 2010. During that time, Las Vegas HEALS became the largest health care organization in Nevada, Geinzer said.

“It was Ann’s leadership,” he said, noting she was a powerful leader. “I’ve never seen anybody not follow Ann.”

On a personal note, Geinzer recalled how Lynch’s son Edward needed a liver transplant more than a decade ago.

During that time period, Lynch went in for a surgery of her own, became septic and was in critical care at MountainView Hospital, Geinzer said. “We thought we were going to lose her.”

While Lynch was in the hospital, Edward met the requirements needed to be on the transplant list.

Geinzer spent more than a week at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix coordinating Edward’s care until Lynch’s brother was able to fly down and take over. Edward received a liver transplant.

Ann and Edward both came home, and were able to recover together. Edward died a couple of years later in 2015.

“Ann got to say goodbye to her son,” Geinzer said. “For me, that was a gift to be able to do that.”

Serving as PTA president

Lynch led the Nevada PTA from 1980-82 and the National PTA from 1989-91. As the national leader, she met with President George H.W. Bush at the White House.

When Rogich was a White House senior adviser to Bush, Lynch asked him if she could meet the president. Rogich arranged for it.

“She said that it was one of the highlights of her life,” Rogich said.

In fall 1989, Lynch was asked to serve on Bush’s Education Policy Advisory Committee.

Nevada PTA President Kali Fox Miller said she never met Lynch, but researched her impact and learned about her from past PTA presidents.

Lynch was “bold” and a “firecracker,” she said, and she who stood up for herself and others.

Miller also said that Lynch let everyone know that she used the “T” initial in her name, Ann T. Lynch.

Lynch fought passionately for children’s health care, Miller said.

And because of Lynch, President Bush declared in 1991 that Feb. 17-23 would be “National PTA Week,” she said.

After learning about Lynch, “I’m so in awe of her,” Miller said.

Some of the things that Lynch worked on as National PTA president were groundbreaking for the time, Miller said.

Lynch was president during the time the PTA had begun educating families about the impact of HIV and AIDS, and there was a lot of pushback regarding those subject matters, she said.

She also advocated for the importance of families and parents in schools, Miller said.

National PTA President Yvonne Johnson said in a statement to the Review-Journal: “Ann leaves a lasting legacy as a staunch advocate for education and making sure Nevada and our nation’s students were prepared for the future.”

“Those who were fortunate to know, work and volunteer alongside Ann will always remember her passion and dedication to increasing family engagement in schools and making a difference for every child’s education, health, safety and long-term success,” Johnson wrote.

Early years

Lynch was born in 1934 in Kansas City, Kansas and grew up in Evansville, Indiana.

She graduated from high school in 1952 and earned a bachelor’s degree from Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas in 1956.

During her early years in Las Vegas, Ann Lynch worked in a couple of positions — director of service clubs at Nellis Air Force Base and district director of Frontier Girl Scouts — before joining the Sunrise Health System.

Lynch was preceded in death by her husband Tom, son Edward and brother Gordon Thompson. She is survived by nephew Andrew Kerr-Thompson and cousin Karen Hinkle.

Memorial services are being arranged for this month, but a date hasn’t been finalized.

Memorial donations can be made to the Sunrise Children’s Foundation and Public Education Foundation.

Those who knew Lynch say her impact is felt to this day.

“What she has done for Las Vegas, we all benefit from her work,” Geinzer said. “Her fingerprints are on everything good here in town.”

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com. Follow @julieswootton on X.