Scott and Nancy McLucas





Scott McLucas
Special Initiatives Chairman

Born into a family of pioneering visionaries who helped shape the history of America, W. Scott McLucas, II, has the blood of revolution, abolition and innovation flowing through his veins. His memoir, Lucky Life, chronicles Scott’s far-reaching philanthropic passion for art, education, dance, drama, cultural and environmental preservation, and how, through his former One World Foundation, the global arts community has benefitted.

Today, at 87, as an active board member of the Stetson Kennedy Foundation, a Fellow Man and Mother Earth Award recipient, and a private philanthropist, Scott continues to follow his passion for leaving the world a better place than he found it. Now Executive Producer of Klandestine Man, the Documentary, Scott is helping Spark Media (Stone Soup Productions) spread the word that Stetson Kennedy’s legacy of truth, justice and the American way are alive and well.

Please join Scott in supporting Klandestine Man, The Documentary, with the dual goals of introducing the late Stetson Kennedy to a new audience, and inspiring them to emulate the courageous man who championed human rights, cultural diversity and stewardship of the environment.


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The privileged namesake of a prominent Midwest banking mogul, W. Scott McLucas, II., grew up at a time when the nation reeled from the Great Depression and the Second World War. Young Scott received the finest private school education and lived in the lap of luxury until, in his senior year at Yale, he was faced with a life-and-death decision that would haunt him for more than three decades. Journey with Scott as he fulfills his duty to his country, pursues a career in advertising, broadcasting, film-making, and theater production, and travels the world, all the while in the grip of a death threat calculated to destroy him. And, finally, celebrate with Scott as he finds true love and with his wife, Nancy, heads up One World Foundation, Inc. as a far-reaching philanthropic arm. Following in the footsteps of his pioneering ancestors, particularly his great-grandfather, Abolitionist Samuel Newell Simpson, W. Scott McLucas has discovered creative joy in globally supporting the fields of art, education, Pulitzer-prize winning dance and drama, and environmental preservation.

Rich in humor, passion and pathos … Lucky Life chronicles the life of a good man who, despite dramatic and unusual challenges along the way, has faced each test with grace, courage and compassion, turning his good fortune into good works.

“I’ve lived a lucky life,” says McLucas, whose pioneering philanthropy as founder of former One World Foundation continues to encourage and support the arts, education, equality and the environment.

Back of the book Excerpt, Lucky Life:

It is safe to say that without the prescience of Scott and his tireless work for Syrinx and music in the south of France, certain composers of world importance would still remain unheard in the region, particularly those of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Not only that, but through Syrinx Vence he has diligently encouraged emergent local composers by offering a platform for their works to be heard. One could add in parenthesis that the London Philharmonic Orchestra would very possibly be without its fine concertmaster, the Orchestre des Concerts Syrinx having provided all this wonderful musician's early formative experience in that position, and a young rising star baritone who has this year (and we are still only in March 2013!) already graced the stages of Théâtre de la Monnaie, Belgium, the Deutsche Opera in Berlin, and the Rome Opera, was given the opportunity to cut his teeth with Syrinx. Scott undoubtedly deserves a place of honour at Saint Cecilia's table.

~Errol Girdlestone, Conductor~