Margaret Rockefeller (September 28, 1915 - March 26, 1996) was a founding member of two land conservation organizations: the

Maine Coast Heritage Trust The Maine Coast Heritage Trust is a nonprofit land conservation organization. Its conservation partner is the Maine Land Trust Network, which is one of its programs. Formation In 1969, Margaret Rockefeller learned from the staff at Acadia Nation ...

in 1970 and the

American Farmland Trust American Farmland Trust is a nonprofit organization in the United States with a mission to protect farmland, promote environmentally sound farming practices, and keep farmers on the land. AFT is staffed by farmers, policy experts, researchers and ...

which was formed in 1980 as a national farmland conservation organization. Throughout her life she was a board member of many organizations and raised funds for conservation projects across the United States of America. She died in 1996 at the age of 80 in New York Hospital.

Early years

Margaret was born to Francis Sims and Neva van Zandt Smith McGrath on 28 September 1915. Growing up in Mt. Kisco she went to school first at the

Shipley School , motto_translation = Courage for the deed; Grace for the doing , address = 814 Yarrow Street , location = , region = , city = Bryn Mawr , county = , st ...

in Bryn Mawr, Pa., then the

Chapin School Chapin School is an all-girls independent day school in New York City's Upper East Side neighborhood in Manhattan. History Maria Bowen Chapin opened "Miss Chapin's School for Girls and Kindergarten for Boys and Girls" in 1901. The school origin ...

in New York. In the 1930s, she met

David Rockefeller David Rockefeller (June 12, 1915 – March 20, 2017) was an American investment banker who served as chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the third generation of the Rockefeller family, ...

whom she married in 1940 at Bedford, New York. During the 1970s, Margaret started to raise cattle on land close to Rockefeller summer home at Seal Harbor, Bartlett Island in Maine and then at the couple's home in Tarrytown, N.Y. She became a breeder of

Simmental cattle The Simmental or Swiss Fleckvieh is a Swiss breed of dual-purpose cattle. It is named after the Simmental – the valley of the Simme river – in the Bernese Oberland, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is reddish in colour with whit ...

, purchasing four farms in western Columbia County, N.Y. in the 1980s.

Interest in conservation

Peggy Rockefeller plaque at Stone Barns Center

Margaret Rockefeller was the sole founder of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust and was its chair for a number of years. The Trust has conserved around 66,000 acres and many buildings in Maine and works towards keeping wildlife habitats, establishing public access to the coast, and providing educational support. One of the trust's projects is dedicated to the memory of Margaret Rockefeller, the Stone Barn Centre, which displays a plaque commemorating her commitment to farmland preservation. Although the American Farmland Trust was founded by a group of farmers including Margaret, she is recognized as its instigator. Other founders include

Patrick Noonan Patrick F. Noonan (born 1943) is an American conservationist and was president of The Nature Conservancy from 1973 to 1980, and the Conservation Fund. He was a recipient of the Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award. He graduated from Gettysburg C ...

and William K. Reilly. Its remit is not only to protect farmland from being developed for other uses, but also to promote farming methods that prevent soil erosion and ensure good soil health. Other organizations she supported include membership of Nature Conservation and National Historic Trust. She was a trustee of the New York Philharmonic from 1953 to 1970 and was a board member of the New York Botanical gardens. The garden produced a series of six books about the wild flowers of America in response to an idea from Margaret who raised $500,000 for the project by organizing the National Committee for the Wild Flowers of the United States. The gardens restored a two-acre rose garden in 1988 which had originally been designed by Beatrix Jones Farrand in 1915. Margaret's husband donated $1 million for the project and it was named the "Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden". Margaret died on March 26, 1996, apparently from complications following heart surgery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockefeller, Margaret 1915 births 1996 deaths American conservationists Rockefeller family People from Mount Kisco, New York Shipley School alumni Chapin School (Manhattan) alumni People from Tarrytown, New York