In Memory of Former RFF Board Chair, Anne Bartley

All|September 04, 2025

The Rockefeller Family Fund mourns the recent passing of Anne Bartley, who served on the board of RFF for more than twenty years, including three as its board chair. In a retrospective prepared for the 50th anniversary of the RFF, Anne said she was heavily influenced by her board service with RFF and its founding director Robert Scrivner. “RFF was innovative, entrepreneurial, and focused - and ahead of the curve by discerning where to fund in advance of important yet nascent public issues,” Anne recalled. 

Ms. Bartley spent her early career in Arkansas where she developed her interest in public service, working through the Legislature to establish the Department of Arkansas Natural and Cultural Heritage. Appointed by the late Governor David Pryor, Ms. Bartley was the agency’s first director and the first woman to serve in an Arkansas governor’s cabinet. She was later appointed by then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton to head the Arkansas Washington Office. Under President Jimmy Carter, Ms. Bartley served on the National Neighborhood Commission. She later served on staff for First Lady Hillary Clinton where she had a broad portfolio, including gender equality, healthcare, and arts and humanities.

In addition to RFF, she served on the boards the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the Bauman Foundation, the New World Foundation, and many other nonprofit organizations and philanthropic affinity groups. Her dedication to constant innovation and entrepreneurship put her at the vanguard of nearly four decades of movement building and organizing work. She will be missed by many, but her good work will endure for years to come.