Coachella Valley Philanthropist Jackie Lee Houston Passes Away

One of the Coachella Valley’s most-known and perhaps most-loved philanthropists, Jackie Lee Houston, has passed away at the age of 76.

Her death was announced by the City of Palm Springs in a mass e-mail alert on Wednesday.

Houston died after a long fight with Pancreatic Cancer at Eisenhower Medical Center on Wednesday morning with her family by her bedside.

Some of the Coachella Valley’s residents may know Houston’s name as the owner of KPSP-TV in Thousand Palms. Many more may know her for he generosity to the countless organizations she helped to fund.

Desert AIDS Project, AIDS Assistance Program, Angel View Children’s Center, Desert Arc,the McCallum Theatre and many many others make the list of non-profit groups that she helped fund vital programs for.

Perhaps the largest organization she helped, however, was the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

As the festival was on the brink of financial disaster after Sony Bono’s death, Houston teamed up with other fellow philanthropists Harold Matzner, Earl Greenberg and others to shore up the group’s finances and move it in a direction that would keep Palm Springs’ position as Hollywood’s resort town to the east.

“A lady of great taste and enormous generosity, Jackie Lee?s leadership brought the gala to an extraordinary level of national attention and industry recognition,” Matzner said on Wednesday. “She paid attention to its every detail and was already working on the theme for the January 2012 Gala. The extraordinary success of both the festival and the gala would not have been possible without Jackie Lee?s very capable and generous leadership. I will deeply miss her as will the entire Festival team.?

Years later, the Palm Springs International Film Festival is a vibrant event, drawing filmmakers and media from all over the world each January.

Today, a park sits just to the west of the Palm Springs Convention Center, named in her honor.

Over the last few years, as Houston’s health declined, she would appear at the festival and other charitable events in a wheelchair, but her passion for why she was there shined.

In a statement made from her Twitter account, Rep. Mary Bono Mack called Houston a “pillar of our community, and she will never be forgotten.”

Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet has asked all city flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of her passing.

Houston is survived by her husband Jim and her children.

In full disclosure, Houston hired me as one of the original staff members of the on-air news and entertainment team at KPSP-TV in 2002.