Mission Statement
The Ross McKee Foundation seeks to improve the musical culture of the Bay Area by providing financial assistance to local pianists and the organizations that support them via grants for performances, education, and scholarships.
Ross McKee Foundation Leadership
Officers
Patricia Taylor Lee, President
Larry Stites, Treasurer
Anthony Angelo, Secretary
Board Members
Jeff Osammon
Nicholas Pavkovic
Gary Rust
Elizabeth Schumann
Jim (“Sky”) Schuyler
Executive Administrator
executivedirector@rossmckeefoundation.org
President Emeritus
Roger Gross
History
The Foundation had its beginnings in the Music and Arts Institute of San Francisco, founded by Ross McKee. The Institute was incorporated in 1939 in San Francisco, California, and moved to its Pacific Heights campus in 1947. Upon Ross McKee’s death, the Institute closed and the property was sold in 1989. From the sale of the property, The Ross McKee Foundation for the Musical Arts was incorporated in 1989 and began operation as a private nonprofit foundation.
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About Ross McKee, Pianist
Ross McKee was born in 1915 and raised in Everett, Washington. He studied piano and graduated from the Manning School of Music. His teachers included Ernst von Dohnányi, Alexander Tcherepnin, Paul Pierre McNeely, John Crogan Manning, Wager Swayne, and Rosalyn Tureck. He began teaching piano in San Francisco in 1931 and performed locally as well as throughout the United States.
Originally a faculty member of the music department of Golden Gate College, Mr. McKee incorporated the Music and Arts Institute in 1939 and, after World War II, he moved his school to the former Japanese Consulate on Alta Plaza. The Institute offered both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. Ross McKee died in 1987 at age 72, He has left a legacy of support for talented young people in music.