Cappy McGarr is an American entrepreneur, fundraiser, author, and Emmy-nominated producer based in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

. He is a co-creator of the Kennedy Center

Mark Twain Prize for American Humor The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor is an American award presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts annually since 1998, excepting the years 2020 and 2021. Named after the 19th-century humorist Mark Twain, it is presen ...

, as well as the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. He was appointed to the board of trustees of the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...

in 1996, and re-appointed by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

in 2011. He has also produced several shows for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

’s

In Performance at the White House ''In Performance at the White House'' is a PBS television series of performances from the White House, the residence of the president of the United States. The series began in 1978. The first series was broadcast in 1978 during the presidency o ...

series.

Early life and career

McGarr was born in

San Angelo, Texas San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Pla ...

. He attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, where he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1973, a

Bachelor of Journalism The Bachelor of Journalism (B.J.) degree is a degree awarded at some universities to students who have studied journalism in a three or four year undergraduate program. In the United States, some schools that do not award the B.J. degree instead c ...

in 1975, and a Master's in Business Administration in 1977. In 1996, McGarr was appointed by President

to the

's Board of Trustees for a six-year term. During that time, McGarr helped create the inaugural

Mark Twain Prize The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor is an American award presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts annually since 1998, excepting the years 2020 and 2021. Named after the 19th-century humorist Mark Twain, it is prese ...

ceremony in 1998 honoring

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...

. McGarr then served as an executive producer on subsequent Mark Twain Prize ceremonies, extending after his term on the Kennedy Center board was complete. McGarr also co-created the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which was first awarded in 2007 to Paul Simon, and has since been given to

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, sou ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David ...

and

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gr ...

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one o ...

and more. For his work on the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize ceremony honoring

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...

, McGarr received an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nomination in 2009 in the category of Outstanding Special Class Programs. He was also nominated for a 2010 NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Variety category for the 2009 Mark Twain Prize. President

re-appointed McGarr to the Kennedy Center board in 2011, making McGarr one of only two people at the time to receive that appointment from multiple presidents. McGarr has served on the board of the Foundation for the National Archives and serves on the board of the

Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, also known as the LBJ Presidential Library, is the presidential library and museum of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States (1963–1969). It is located on the grounds of ...

. He is also a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...

. In 2021, McGarr published a memoir about his life and the founding of the Mark Twain Prize titled ''The Man Who Made Mark Twain Famous: Stories from the Kennedy Center, the White House, and Other Comedy Venues.''

Personal life

McGarr married Janie Strauss in 1978, and they live together in

. They have two children, Elizabeth McGarr McCue and Kathryn McGarr, as well as two grandchildren.

Works

* ''A Texas-Size Health Care Failure'' (The New York Times, 2009) * ''Why Washington Needs a Laugh'' (Politico, 2011) * ''Coronavirus Is No Joke, But It’s Why Comedy Must Go On'' (USA Today, 2020) * ''The Man Who Made Mark Twain Famous: Stories from the Kennedy Center, the White House, and Other Comedy Venues'' (Simon & Schuster, 2021)

References

External links

*
University of Texas profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGarr, Cappy 1951 births Living people People from San Angelo, Texas University of Texas at Austin alumni