Andrew W. Kilgore's Obituary
Andrew W. Kilgore, age 85, of Fayetteville, Arkansas, passed away on January 5, 2025.
Andrew W. Kilgore was a photographer of great renown and an advocate for people on the periphery. He used his images to promote social change and a greater understanding of all people. He is survived by his daughter and five grandchildren.
Andrew was born in Charlottesville, VA. He lived for many formative years outside of Chicago and then moved to El Paso where he graduated high school. He then graduated from Earlham College in Indiana. Next, he entered Union Theological Seminary in New York City and he also studied acting with the legendary Stella Adler. Soon however, his plans changed and he joined the Peace Corps where he served two years in India.
At the end of his Peace Corps time, he purchased his first camera and discovered the art, science and voice that would drive his whole working life. He soon settled in Northwest Arkansas and began making portraits of the community. Over the course of his 50+ years as a photographer, he took hundreds of thousands of photographs and created many exhibits, celebrating people with developmental disabilities, mental illness, drug addiction and homelessness, among others. His goal was to document as many individual people as possible and return to them as often as possible. His collection of photos, particularly of Fayetteville and Little Rock, is unparalleled and will be an indelible record of our state.
He was a proud hippie, both back in the heyday of hippie culture and all throughout his life. He devoted his life to love and compassion toward all people. He was a lifetime practitioner of meditation and a firm believer in the infinite light of the universe. He will forever be remembered by all who knew him.
A memorial service will be held 2:00 p.m., Friday, January 23, 2026, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas.
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