Louise Thomas
2025 Greater Tucson Leadership Tucson Founders Award
By Tiffany Kjos
Few people have shaped Southern Arizona’s philanthropic landscape like Louise Thomas.
From the Ronald McDonald House to Angel Charity for Children and the UA Steele Children’s Research Center, Thomas has helped launch some of the area’s most influential efforts — work being recognized with Greater Tucson Leadership’s Founders Award.
The lifetime achievement honor recognizes those who have “helped shape the community in a quality, positive manner with merit and dedication.” It’s a description that fits Thomas well.
“I know this is an epic award for that organization, and I am truly honored to receive it,” she said. “I am very grateful and it means a great deal because it doesn’t just belong to me. It belongs to a lot of people that I’ve worked with.”
Thomas’ passion for helping youth and families was ignited after her son Michael died of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 1979 at the age of 9. “But that’s not the only reason. Of course it’s the primary and initial reason, and it always will be, but had I had a healthy family, I would hope I would still have endorsed projects making lives better for children, because they mean so much to me.”
Thomas was a founding member of the Ronald McDonald House, which provides free housing, meals and support for families of sick children receiving treatment. In 1983, she and the late Jane Loew Sharples founded Angel Charity to eliminate the facility’s mortgage. Through the Angel Ball and other efforts, they paid off the $305,000 debt within a year and funded an expansion.
“When Michael was so sick, I witnessed so many people from out of town eating out of vending machines and sleeping in waiting rooms, so securing the financial stability of the Ronald McDonald House was my first focus,” Thomas said. “Together with Jane, we were able to gather a cross-section of our entire community to work together hand in hand to raise this money for children, not only for the Ronald McDonald House but for the future.”
Today, Angel Charity operates with one paid staff member and 250 volunteer “Angels” who raise and donate money through grants to local nonprofits. Its signature event, Angel Ball, is set for Dec. 12 at The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa. The new Angel Charity for Children Foundation will support the mission long-term, in part through planned giving.
The organization awards grants ranging from $10,000 to $900,000, totaling $1.76 million last year. Its largest 2025 grant – nearly $857,000 – went to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Arizona. Angel Charity previously supported Big Brothers Big Sisters in 1992 with more than $663,000 to buy and renovate its first facility downtown.
“Their generosity is creating lasting change for children and families across Southern Arizona,” said Marie Logan, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Southern Arizona. “Transformational gifts like those from Angel Charity for Children make it possible for organizations like ours to dream bigger and serve more young people.”
As of 2025, Angel Charity grants had funded 152 projects serving more than 1 million children.
This year it will raise $1.179 million to support 10 local nonprofits, totaling more than $34 million in grants.
All funds stay in Pima County, and grant recipients undergo rigorous vetting, Thomas said: “We’re very serious and we screen very carefully.”
Thomas is also the namesake of the Louise Thomas Endowed Chair in Pediatric Research at Steele Children’s Research Center, of which she is a founding emeritus member. And she and Michael inspired another nonprofit, People Acting Now Discover Answers, or PANDA, in Phoenix, which raises money for Steele.
“That’s the second part of my life that I’m very, very proud of. A few months after my first year of chairing Angel Charity I was invited to head the board for the new children’s research center at the university. I served two terms, and I raised, with a great, strong board of directors, $7 million. At the time that was a whole lot of money.”
Penny Gunning and Robyn DeBell, a former neighbor of Thomas, founded PANDA in 1999 specifically because of Michael to help the Steele Center. The organization has raised more than $40 million in funding and secured $125 million in grants for the research center.
“The disease that my own son passed away from, at the time he was diagnosed it had a 50/50 chance of survival, and today it’s like 80 to 90%,” Thomas said. “So research is very, very important, and I endorse it 100%. It’s the only way we make progress.”
