Owings, Margaret Wentworth (1913–1999)
Owings, Margaret Wentworth (1913–1999)
American conservationist. Born Margaret Wentworth, April 29, 1913, in Berkeley, CA; died at home in Big Sur, CA, Jan 21, 1999; dau. of Jean and Frank Wentworth (trustee of Mills College); graduate of Mills College, 1934; completed graduate studies in art at Fogg Museum at Harvard University, 1935; m. Malcolm Millard (div.); m. Nathaniel Owings (architect and founding partner in Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, died 1984); children: (1st m.) Wendy Millard Benjamin.
Served as commissioner of California Parks (1963–69); chaired the California Mountain Lion Preservation Fund; founded Friends of the Sea Otter, to save the threatened California sea otters (1968), and served as its president (1968–90s); campaigned to keep Big Sur coast in its undeveloped state; founded the Rachel Carson Council; wrote Voice from the Sea: Reflections on Wildlife and Wilderness (1999).