By Liz Kirkwood,
Executive Director —
This remembrance is for Katie Horvath in appreciation for her brilliant and soaring spirit, her demands for meaningful change, and her life-long passion for protecting the places and water she loved here at home in the Great Lakes.
In the early years at FLOW, our board was comprised of brilliant lawyers, journalists, educators, and other thinkers who also turned out to be close friends of our founder, Jim Olson. These dedicated folks also tended to be older and male. And as a new female executive director in my early forties, I wanted to bring on younger thought leaders to our board. Without skipping a beat, Jim immediately suggested Katie Horvath. She was ideal. Native to Traverse City, Katie had recently returned to the area having already had an all-star career practicing patent law in OH, CA, and WA. She wanted to be close to family and raise her daughter, Elayna, on the water in the Great Lakes like she had. Katie had grown up in town on Washington Street surrounded by other young families and kids who relished being out on the water. It also turned out that many of parents of these families were prominent lawyers in town. So it was only natural that she should join FLOW’s board in our early years.
Right from the start, when I met Katie in 2013, it was clear that she would become a dear friend to everyone on FLOW’s staff and board. As an IP patent lawyer and industrial engineer, Katie brought exceptional expertise and wisdom to our fledging operations.
Honestly, she blew me away. She always asked the most pointed questions, the hard questions, and her science brain pushed us to articulate and communicate better alternative solutions.
Katie would serve two terms as an invaluable board member to FLOW from 2013 to 2019. During that time, she faced and then beat breast cancer. We supported her all along the way with meals, conversations, and strong doses of hope. Facing this personal battle, Katie leaned in bringing her usual strong and optimistic demeanor. She advocated for FLOW to make the explicit connection between public health and clean water. Katie’s personal journey only underscored how critical this messaging was for our success. While at the Cowell Family Cancer Center, Katie organized important community events and always brought FLOW’s voice to the table.
Katie was exceptional. She was brilliant and serious; she was also funny and fun. Her smile would light up a room. We will miss her dearly.
A traditional Irish Wake was held in Katie’s honor at the Grand Traverse Yacht Club on February 23, 2025. For more on Katie’s full life, read her beautiful obituary.
