Deborah Letourneau and I spent a couple of hours up at the Arboretum, near the farm that Margaret loved, remembering her, telling stories, thinking about her life and how much she meant to us and others. We laughed and also shed a few tears. We celebrated her with phrases and words: kind, brilliant, generous (with ideas and hospitality!), collaborator, always happy to see us, fully engaged, breadth of knowledge, teacher, friend, and mentor for me. And there were moments of silence to allow her to be present. She was the first person I remember to sign an email with "Hugs". Here's a big one for you, Margaret.
I will always remember Margaret for her insightful comments on a wide range of topics and her generosity. Margaret hosted my 30th birthday party at her house (photo below with my mother and Alison Russell). She also kindly let a visiting graduate student in my lab from Brazil stay at her house. Of course, I will always remember Adam and Jonah too. She had a large impact on the ENVS department at UCSC. I send my condolences to her family and friends. She touched many peoples' lives.
Karen Holl
I met Margaret in person one time, a little before the pandemic lockdown and after I moved to UC Santa Cruz. "Connectivity" is the word I would use to describe what I immediately sensed about her: connecting people, connecting ideas, connecting scholarship with practice, all with social warmth and love for our beautiful if also messy world. As one of the somewhat newer faculty members in the Environmental Studies Dept at UCSC, I am forever grateful for her legacy in greatly influencing the core interdisciplinary approach of this department. This is a rare and very special thing to have contributed.
I was hired as a professor at UCSC just as Margaret was retiring. I really wanted to meet her, so I asked a colleague to bring me around to her house and introduce me. I was SO glad that I did. Margaret was so wise and warm but also funny and honest. She was kind but didn't sugarcoat things. I loved visiting her and just hanging out and eating and laughing with her. She will be very deeply missed.
Margaret's writing about nature, and specifically agriculture, was tremendously powerful for me as a graduate student. Long before I met her, I thought of her often and was so grateful for the clarity and radicality of her ideas. Her work stood way out, opening up wonderful territory for people like me to follow and explore. When I was lucky enough to meet her in person and work with her as a PhD candidate, I discovered a warm, generous, thoughtful human to match the intellectual excellence. We have lost a person of great significance—in so many ways. I am so sad for her loss but so fortunate for my time with her. All my love, Mrill
Margaret was a jewel of a friend in every sense of the word. We shared the same birth date and, because of that, were kindred spirits well before we met. May our collective memories of Margaret forever be a blessing.
Margareth took me in her house and was a great company, friend and mentor during my time as an exchange student at the University of Santa Cruz. Margareth has always been generous to humans, animals and plants and will be remembered dearly in this Easter and onwards.
Sincerely,
Ricardo Gomes Cesar,
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