Hall of Fame Member Biographies

John E. Kirkpatrick

John E. Kirkpatrick played a major role in the advancement of higher education in Oklahoma through the Kirkpatrick Foundation and the Kirkpatrick Family Fund. Kirkpatrick graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a naval officer during World War II. In 1969, he founded the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. He was instrumental in organizing the Oklahoma Science and Arts Foundation, the Omniplex Science Museum, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, and the Kirkpatrick Center museum complex. Oklahoma Today named him one of the 50 most influential Oklahomans of the 20th Century. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1962 and the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame in 2000.