Shelly Zegart, one of the founding visionaries of the Alliance for American Quilts (Quilt Alliance), died at home in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 22, 2025, after succumbing to a brief but grave illness. Shelly‘s beloved husband, Kenny, died earlier this year. Shelly’s contributions to the scholarly world of quilts are remarkable, and her loss is deeply felt. In 1981, Shelly co-founded the Kentucky Quilt Project, an effort to collect data on quilts made in Kentucky through a series of Quilt Days held across Kentucky. The project inspired groups in almost all 50 states to conduct their own quilt surveys based on the KQP model. To find a home for this growing body of quilt documentation, Zegart, along with Quilts Inc. founders Karey Bresenhan and Nancy Puentes, and Eunice Ray, founded the Alliance for American Quilts in 1993. Much of the data collected by the state quilt projects is now archived in the Quilt Index, another project that Shelly and fellow AAQ board members worked tirelessly to help establish.  For thirteen years, Shelly housed the AAQ headquarters in her home in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2006, when the organization moved its office to Asheville, NC, and Shelly retired from the board, she and her husband, Dr. Kenny Zegart, established the Zegart Fund to help sustain the AAQ. Devoted colleagues, friends, and family made matching gifts in honor of Shelly’s work with the AAQ. In 2011, Shelly served as executive producer and host of a 9-part documentary series “Why Quilts Matter: History, Art & Politics,” that aired on more than 200 public television stations. In 2020, Shelly received the Governor’s Award in the Arts – Folk Heritage Award to honor her outstanding contributions to the state’s artistic traditions. In addition to her incredible life in quilts, Shelly was the founder and President/CEO of Kentucky to the World, Inc., a nonprofit whose mission is to elevate the cultural and intellectual reputation of Kentucky on the global stage. The Quilt Alliance would not exist today without Shelly’s dedication, drive for excellence, generous support, and deep love and appreciation for quilts. We welcome you to share your memories of Shelly in the comments. Link to Shelly’s obituary in the Louisville Courier Journal.