Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Mary Tyler FREEMAN
Mary Tyler Freeman Cheek McClenahan (1917-2005) was a Richmond community leader, activist and philanthropist. She was described as the "conscience of Richmond" for her contributions to the Richmond community in the areas of racial harmony, housing, Richmond revitalization and historic preservation. She was also active in the arts, her church, and education.
Born in Richmond on April 6, 1917, McClenahan was the daughter of Douglas Southall Freeman (1886-1953), noted historian and journalist, and Inez Goddin Freeman (1891-1974). She attended St. Catherine's School and Vassar College, receiving an A.B. in English-Creative Writing in 1937.
After college she worked briefly as a secretary in the Department of Fine Arts of William and Mary College where she met Leslie Cheek, Jr. (1908-1992), then head of the department. They married in 1939. The Cheeks lived in Baltimore for three years while Mr. Cheek was Director of the Baltimore Museum of Fine Arts and in Washington, D.C. during World War II. While Cheek served in the Army, McClenahan volunteered as a nurse's aid. After his discharge from the Army in 1945, they lived in New York City where Cheek had been hired as an Associate Editor of Architectural Forum Magazine. The couple returned to Richmond when he became the first director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (1948-1968). They had four children. After Cheek's death in 1992, McClenahan married Dr. John Lorimer McClenahan, a retired radiologist from Pennsylvania, in the following year.
McClenahan was responsible for a number of Richmond civic initiatives, including bringing together the 35 groups that make up the Richmond Better Housing Coalition. In 1981 she founded the Richmond Urban Forum, an organization that brought together white and black community leaders. She was twice president of the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood and has participated as a volunteer and board member of numerous Richmond civic organizations, including Richmond Renaissance Inc. and Richmond-On-The-James. She was also an active member of Richmond's historic St. Paul's Episcopal Church. She died at her Richmond home on January 16, 2005.
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