NEWS

Daniel Lee Carrigan (7/26/1946 to 3/4/2024)

Dan Carrigan returned to Gaia on March 4, 2024, after a long struggle with heart failure. Born July 26, 1946 in Miami to Thomas Olen Cowart and Bessie Mae (Shepard) Cowart, Dan grew up in Florida and received his BA from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, before serving a stint in the Navy during the Vietnam War era, where he was a pilot and sang in the Navy chorus. He later attended Tulane Graduate School in Public Policy, New Orleans.

Dan sought to make the world a better place. He founded the Metrolina Medical Peer Review Foundation (1974 – 1992), a pioneering organization that helped doctors in North and South Carolina standardize care, and he founded Families in Transitions (1993 – 2008), which supported families and children during the divorce process. His later life focused on a variety of “projects”: creating nature spaces, facilitating men’s support groups, founding Peaceful Self Deliverance that provided education for hospice nurses and doctors, and cofounding Inclusion Church in Davidson. 

Dan was passionate about our planet Earth – Gaia – and focused on efforts to sustain it. To that end, he established a foundation that underwrote national and international nonprofit charities that address reproductive rights and women’s autonomy, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa.

He leaves behind his cherished daughter Lisa Carrigan Shu, her husband Yen, and one grandson, Colin Lee Shu of McLean, Virginia as well as his devoted partner Suzanne (Zee) Berl and former wife Mary VanOstenberg Carrigan. 

In lieu of flowers, friends are asked to support PBS North Carolina or a charity of their choice.

 

 

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