John Kincaid Carpenter

John Kincaid Carpenter died Wednesday, May 13, 2020, in Baton Rouge. John was a consummate communicator, who shared his many talents and gifts with colleagues and friends. He was also a gifted writer, capturing the essence of difficult and serious issues and bringing them to life through his work. A proud 1989 graduate of Baton Rouge High School, John went on to earn a degree in mass communications from Louisiana State University in 1993. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in Warner-Robbins, Georgia, later returning to Baton Rouge as an AmeriCorps member working at Mid- City Redevelopment Alliance, where he became a passionate devotee of the organization's mission. After advancing to the Fannie Mae and AARP foundations in Dallas and Washington, DC, John returned to Baton Rouge to join the Center for Planning Excellence as Policy Director before becoming Director of Donor Services for the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. In 2014, John led the Be Fair Baton Rouge campaign to promote the passing of a fairness ordinance to prohibit discrimination in all forms in East Baton Rouge Parish. Last year, John happily rejoined Mid City as Deputy Director. A member of St. James Episcopal Church, John was a past chairman of the Outreach committee. He loved his hometown, believing in its people and passionately supporting the causes that helped its citizens. To those who knew him well, he was funny, sarcastic, exceedingly loyal, loving and kind. He is survived by his husband, John Collins Sykes III, his mother, the Rev. Elizabeth Kincaid Carpenter of Sewanee, TN; sister, Elizabeth Carpenter Noland of Baton Rouge, and brother, Robert Holmes Carpenter III and wife, Bedford V. Carpenter, of Franklin, TN. He is also survived by his nieces and nephews, Sarah Scott Carpenter of Tuscaloosa, AL, Robert Holmes Carpenter IV of Franklin, TN; and Fairfax Elizabeth Noland, and John Burden Noland III of Baton Rouge, LA and his mother-in-law, Priscilla Wheless Sykes of Rocky Mount, NC. He was preceded in death by his father, Robert Holmes Carpenter, Jr., maternal grandparents, Elizabeth Bettis Parkerson and Dr. Robert Coleman Kincaid, and paternal grandparents, Florence Laughlin Meagher and Joseph Patrick Meagher, Jr. Private family services will be held at St. James Episcopal Church, officiated by the Rev. Christopher R. Duncan and the Rev. Ralph F. Howe, Jr. with inurnment in the church columbarium. Memorial donations to support the causes John loved may be made to: St. James Episcopal Church, stjamesbr.org, 205 N. Fourth Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70801; Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, brfoodbank.org, 10600 S. Choctaw Dr, Baton Rouge, LA 70815; Baton Rouge High Foundation, www.brhsfoundation.net, P.O.Box 80454, Baton Rouge, LA 70898-0454.