Dr. G. Thomas Poe

Dr. G. Thomas Poe, an intellectual center of Kansas City's film community, a beloved associate professor of Film and Media Arts in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, a pillar of Trinity United Methodist Church and a quiet force of moral authority for decades in the area's LGBT-rights movement, died Monday, November 21, 2016. He was 70.
At UMKC, Poe taught an array of mass communication, cultural theory, film history, writing and other classes, winning the Missouri Governors Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2004; the national Opera America award for Outstanding Arts Education in 2003; and the Arts and Sciences Award for Outstanding Teaching in 1991. He served as department chair from 2002-2008.
"He cared immensely about his students and they loved him," says Michael McDonald, co-chair of UMKC's Department of Communication Studies. "He was a peacemaker in terms of faculty and administration, but he was also a rabble-rouser. He could get things done, in his own very quiet but very significant way."
Poe requested that his colleagues at UMKC pass along specific advice to students: "Try not to do things because they can be done expeditiously, but do them because they are right. This way, you will be able to live with yourself, and when the time comes, you will be at peace."
His first career was as a Methodist minister. After graduating from Central Methodist College in Fayette, Missouri, he earned a Master of Divinity from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1971. He went on to earn two more masters degrees: one in English from Northwest Missouri State University (1973) and one in communication studies from UMKC (1985), followed by his PhD in Film and Media Arts (with Distinction), in May 1994.
In addition to curating film series for several area institutions, Poe helped create the Film Society of Kansas City, the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee/Kansas City FilmFest.
Poes extensive political work included terms as president of Kansas Citys Four Freedoms Democratic Club and the National Board of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. He was also active in many other aspects of the Kansas City community, servings as a member of the Kansas City Board of Zoning Adjustment and the Independence Missouri Council on Economic Development and as treasurer of the Jackson County Tax Levi Board.
Preceding him in death was his father, the Rev. Dr. George E. Poe. Survived by his mother Charlotte F. Poe of Marionville, Mo.; his sister Phyllis Poe and brother-in-law, Tom Davidson of Eureka Springs, Ark. He was the beloved uncle of Sara Spitzer, husband David and children, Maya, Anemos, and Luna of Harrisburg, Pa.; Jonathan Stalling, wife Amy and children, Isaac, Eliana, and Rowen of Norman, Ok.; Robin Barner, wife Sarah and children Beetrix and Ruby of Eureka Springs, Ark. and Chris M. Barner of Eureka Springs, Ark.

SERVICES Memorial Service
Sunday, December 11, 2016 2:00 PM
Trinity United Methodist Church 620 East Armour Blvd Kansas City, Missouri