When Louise Gartner Birkhead arrived at the Maxwell School in 1951 to begin a master of public administration degree, she was one of only two women in her class. The education and training she received shaped a career devoted to public service and a lifelong drive to open doors in government for the women who would follow her.

Those women who followed the trail she blazed included her own granddaughter, Hanna Birkhead. In 2016 she graduated from Maxwell with an M.P.A.

“I was proud to follow in her footsteps as I received the same degree next to dozens of incredible women in my class,” said Hanna, who also received a master’s degree from the Newhouse School of Public Communications and serves as the associate director of public information for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. “This notable contrast with my grandma’s experience is thanks to the progress that she fought for during her career, alongside many other trailblazers. I’m grateful that she and I were able to share stories of our Maxwell experiences, and that I could learn from her firsthand about what it means to be a public servant.”

Birkhead ’52 M.P.A. died July 13 in Slingerlands, New York. She was 97. Born in Needham, Massachusetts, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College in 1951 before enrolling at Maxwell.

While at Maxwell, she met her husband, Guthrie S. Birkhead, Jr., who later served as Maxwell’s dean from 1977-88 after nearly three decades on the faculty. The couple married in 1952 and settled in Syracuse, where they raised three sons. Guthrie died in 2013.

Birkhead spent much of her career in public administration for the City of Syracuse and New York State government, serving as director of the City’s Office of Federal and State Aid Coordination, and later as director of constituent services for a New York State senator. She also represented Syracuse’s mayor before the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities and advised the mayor’s Minority Commission on Employment on the city’s affirmative action plan.

Hanna and her family remember Birkhead for her pioneering spirit and achievements as well as her love of music—she was a pianist, her keen (some might say meticulous) organizational skills, her sense of humor and her adventurous spirit. She and her late husband loved travel, and their sons said they were fortunate to live in Pakistan for three years in their youth while Guthrie represented the Maxwell School on an initiative with the Ford Foundation to train civil servants.

Through the years and miles, the boys saw their parents’ example of engaged citizenship and philanthropy. The Birkheads supported numerous civic and environmental organizations, including the Thousand Islands Land Trust, Huntington Family Centers, the United Way of Central New York, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and the Erie Canal Museum, where Louise worked after retirement.

They were also generous supporters of the Maxwell School and Syracuse University.

In 2022, she established the Louise Gartner Birkhead M.P.A. Class of 1952 Scholarship at Maxwell, crediting an alumni-funded scholarship with helping her afford graduate school seven decades earlier. She said she hoped the endowment would help young women from diverse backgrounds with fewer resources pursue their own careers in public service.

Her gift added to a family legacy of giving at Maxwell that spans generations. Guthrie Birkhead is honored, alongside longtime economics professor Jesse Burkhead, through the Birkhead-Burkhead Fund and its companion Teaching Excellence Award and Professorship, established in 1987 with founding support from alumnus James M. Harkin ’76 M.S.Sc./’78 Ph.D. (SSc). Nominated by students, the award has recognized outstanding teaching in Maxwell’s Public Administration and International Affairs Department for nearly four decades; its recipients include current Maxwell Dean David M. Van Slyke, a two-time honoree.

“Louise lived out the values associated with the Athenian Oath, the unofficial motto of the Maxwell School, on a daily basis,” said Van Slyke. “Her commitment to leaving what she found better and greater and for the public good reflected her leadership and engaged citizenship. We are grateful to have benefitted from an alumna who gave so much, modeled the types of involvement that make communities stronger, and whose support, friendship and generosity has shaped Maxwell in enduring ways.”

Birkhead is survived by her sons Guthrie S. Birkhead III, Richard G. Birkhead and Evan C. Birkhead ’83 M.S. (Newhouse), and their wives; eight grandchildren and step-grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren, with three more expected.