Obituary: Martha T. Muse

SCAR and the Selection Committee for the Martha T Muse Prize for Antarctic science and policy join the Tinker Foundation in mourning the passing of Martha T Muse on 9th February 2014. Martha was a founding director of the Tinker Foundation. She served as its president for 27 years and its chairman for 33 years, retiring in 2008. It was under her direction that the Foundation became a leading funder of Latin American-related activities, providing support for educational, environmental, security, economic, legal and governance issues. One of her final directives to the Tinker Foundation was incorporating Antarctica-related subjects under its funding mandate. Her passion for Antarctica was recognised with the Tinker Foundation establishing the Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica, an award for mid-career Antarctic scientists and policy makers, recognised as leaders of tomorrow. The First Martha T Muse Fellows Colloquium will be held in her honour, in conjunction with the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Horizon Scan, in April 2014 in New Zealand.

Martha received her undergraduate degree from Barnard College in 1948 and a master’s degree in political science from Columbia University in 1955. In 1981 she received an honorary doctorate from Georgetown University. She was the first woman elected as a trustee to Columbia University and was among the first women named to the Board of the New York Stock Exchange and the Council on Foreign Relations.

A memorial service will be held in New York City in the late spring. Letters of inquiry and condolence may be sent to the Tinker Foundation, 55 E. 59th St., New York, NY 10022.

For a detailed obituary, please follow link below:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=169642621

Details of the Martha T Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica:
http://www.museprize.org/

Details of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Horizon Scan, and the 1st Martha T. Muse Fellows Colloquium (“What will Antarctica and the Southern Ocean look like in 2065?)
http://www.scar.org/horizonscanning/