Mary Barden Keegan, 84; Founder of Houston’s End Hunger Network

No one in Texas may have dined out more often in the name of ending hunger than Mary Barden Keegan.

After founding Houston’s End Hunger Network in 1985, she constantly visited fine restaurants to court those who could make her food-distribution system grow.

The nonprofit estimates that it serves about 3.2 million meals a year to half a million Houston residents who receive emergency food assistance.

Keegan, who gave her job description as “professional volunteer,” died March 9 of heart failure at St. Joseph Hospital in Houston, said her son Michael. She was 84.

“She had one of those amazing personalities that could just move mountains and inspire people, and she channeled that talent into helping others,” said David Davenport, executive director of End Hunger Network in Houston.

When she founded the Houston group, she was on the board of the national End Hunger Network, which was started in Los Angeles in 1983 by actor Jeff Bridges and others to raise awareness of hunger. The two groups are no longer affiliated.

“Mary was a tireless advocate for the poor and the hungry,” Bridges said in a statement. “Her commitment and dynamism resulted in the creation of an innovative organization that continues to provide food for that city’s most vulnerable citizens.”

The idea for a local End Hunger Network struck Keegan as she watched a television program on hunger in Houston.

In the midst of oil country, she devised a food-gathering plan that remains the group’s signature. Keegan placed red oil barrels in supermarkets to make it easy for people to donate food.

In a given week, End Hunger Network and the Houston Food Bank assist 51,000 people. About 15% are homeless; an additional 43% must choose between paying bills and buying food, the network said.

Keegan’s resume detailing her public service was as vast as her hat collection was deep.

She led delegations of women to meet other women around the world and was a voluntary advisor on a State Department foreign aid committee. In Houston, she advised the mayor on women’s issues and was a prominent volunteer at St. Joseph Hospital, where her husband was a radiologist.

“It was amazing having as a mother this symbol of somebody who was really, really committed,” her son said. “She instilled in all of her children a desire to change the world.”

Born Nov. 18, 1921, in New York City, she was the only daughter of James Barden, a contractor who built churches in New York City, and his wife, the former May Linehan. The couple also had five sons.

While earning a bachelor’s in education and a master’s in personnel administration at Columbia University, she met James Keegan. When he became a doctor in the armed forces, they moved to San Antonio and then Houston.

The sole charity she started, the End Hunger Network, brought her national recognition. It also enabled the woman who loved making an entrance to dine for a cause.

“If Mary ever got you to lunch, it was over,” Davenport said. “You walked out of there doing whatever she wanted.”

In addition to James, her husband of 58 years, and son Michael, she is survived by two other sons, James Jr. and Patrick; two daughters, Kathleen Keegan-Cowie and Colleen; 10 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.