Ann Marie Lucke Knoll Downing was born on June 10, 1946, in Oakland, CA. She died peacefully at home in Rochester, MN on December 15, 2024, in the loving care of family. She was 78 years old.

Ann was a California girl through and through—a 4th generation San Franciscan who came of age in the Bay Area during the Beat era and received her BFA and MFA degrees from the University of San Francisco in Art History and interned at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC.

Ann was a vibrant presence who lit up every room she entered. She had an uncanny way of putting people at ease and mingled effortlessly with those from all walks of life, and applied these extraordinary skills as a consummate host. Ann enjoyed a long career as a philanthropy professional and consultant for nonprofit organizations in the arts, environment, medicine and community development— notably The San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts, The national Sierra Club, Esalen Institute, the National Sleep Foundation and the Rochester Area Foundation. Her pioneering concept of “Transformational Philanthropy” inspired corporate donors and nonprofits alike.

In 1984, Ann met Larry Downing at a Sierra Club leadership event in San Francisco and their dynamic courtship and partnership began. On June 2, 1985, they were married on the banks of the Cascade River on the North Shore of Lake Superior. It was a place they would return to frequently in their nearly 40 years together… gathering with neighbors and friends on Cascade Beach Road and entertaining on the deck of their beloved Edwin Lundie-designed cabin.

AnnandLarryalsospent decades traveling to Europe on behalf of their work with the John Muir Trust, which took them everywhere from rugged islands in Scotland to the manicured lawn of Buckingham Palace. During that time they amassed an incredible group of Scottish friends who continue to stay connected to this day.

Their life was also marked by frequent travels to Italy, where they bonded with a tiny hilltop village in Tuscany and in 1985 established a home that welcomed hundreds of friends and family members from Minnesota and far beyond. While there, Ann collaborated with a dear friend to research, illustrate and publish a cookbook of handed-down recipes from this remote and celebrated region entitled “Nobody Knows the Truffles I’ve Seen.”

Ann was keenly interested in spirituality and human potential, and the interconnection of the body, spirit and mind. She was an avid reader, a skilled and sensitive painter and a passionate cook who loved to entertain, with a special proclivity for rustic Italian dishes. Her meals and feasts were legendary.

While Ann’s later life was marked by multiple medical and mobility challenges, she never complained about her condition or let her limitations dim her bright spirit. After years in assisted living facilities, she was able to spend the last two years of her life in a cozy home setting, lovingly cared for by her daughter and sonin- law who uprooted their lives in California to make her days as full and comfortable as they could be.

Ann was preceded in death by her father, Arthur Lucke; her mother, Mary Rubadue Lucke; and her brother Robert Lucke. She is survived by her beloved husband Lawrence Downing, daughter Michelle Knoll (Brian Pritchard), Kyia Downing, Chris Downing (Teri), and grandchildren Jesper Horsted, Kylie Downing, Jack Downing and Elsa Horsted, as well as siblings William Lucke and Pauline Johnson Brown, and former husband Alfred Knoll (Diane).

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Downing residence in Rochester in the spring of 2025.