Car accident kills Katherine Loarie, 45

BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer

A Palo Alto woman who helped female candidates run for local office has died in a car crash in Joshua Tree, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff.

Katherine Loarie, 45, was driving when she was broadsided by a truck while making a left turn across traffic on Twentynine Palms Highway.

She was pronounced dead at the scene on Saturday afternoon, the sheriff said.

Loarie was the treasurer and technology lead on the board of WIRE for Women, an organization that helps women candidates get elected to local office by hosting workshops and finding them mentors. Loarie said in her bio that she was inspired to join the organization after spending too much of her career in finance and technology as the only woman in the room.

Loarie worked as a neighborhood captain in Palo Alto to connect candidates with volunteers, her friend Sabah Munawar said.

“She always believed more women should have resources to run for office and emulated it by always being ready to help,” Munawar said.

Loarie graduated from Menlo School in 1996 and UC-Berkeley in 2000, according to her LinkedIn. She received an MBA from Dartmouth in 2009 and started working at Meta as a technical program manager in June.

She loved to travel, to watch Stanford’s Women Basketball, to spend time with her dog, her friend Sabah Munawar said.

Loarie managed finances for Cari Templeton’s campaign for Palo Alto City Council in 2020.

She had strong business expertise and a fun-loving, generous personality, Templeton said in an email.

Loarie also volunteered last year on Councilwoman Vicki Veenker’s campaign.

“She was so happy for Vicki and thrilled to see our city elect more women to City Council, and of course delighted to have been an important part of that campaign,” Templeton said. “I will never forget her joyful smile.”

Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to the Katherine Loarie T’09 Memorial Fund at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.  Gifts can be made online at dartgo.org/katherineloarie or sent to: Dartmouth College, Gift Recording Office, 6066 Development Office, Hanover, NH 03755, denoting on the check “Katherine Loarie T’09 Memorial Fund.”