Beth Lynn McGee
Chesapeake Bay Foundation director of science and agricultural policy was a longtime scientist with a lifelong love of the outdoors
Beth Lynn McGee, the director of science and agricultural policy and a longtime scientist, died of breast cancer June 4 at her Chesapeake Bay home in Churchton, surrounded by family. She was 61.
Ms. McGee was born in Wilmington, Delaware, to Donald Hileman McGee, a pediatrician, and Greta Patricia Callahan McGee, an office manager.
From an early age, Ms. McGee was dedicated to every goal she set her mind to. She got varsity letters in basketball, field hockey and tennis as a high school student at Brandywine High School in Wilmington. After graduating in 1979, she went to the University of Virginia, where she played field hockey and majored in biology.
She earned her master’s degree in ecology from the University of Delaware in 1988 and completed her education in 1998 with a doctorate in environmental science from the University of Maryland.
Ms. McGee loved the water, especially the Chesapeake Bay, which is what brought her to Maryland.
While getting her education, she worked several jobs at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds; the Maryland Department of Environment; and the University of Maryland Wye Research Center.
After completing her doctorate in 1998, she joined U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and worked there until 2003.
She spent the last 20 years of her life as director of science and agricultural policy at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
“Although small in stature, few have contributed as much to the science and policy of Bay restoration as Dr. Beth McGee. Her love and connection to the watershed and the Bay drove her. And her intellect never let her settle for the status quo. When Beth talked, the Bay restoration community listened and acted on her advice,” Alison Prost, the foundation’s vice president for environmental protection and restoration, said in a news release.
As Kim Coble reflected on her time working with Ms. McGee at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, she remembered her as someone who never backed down.
“There was a real commitment on her part to ensure the integrity of science and decision-making. And I think all of us that worked with her were better at our jobs because of that skill set. That skill that she applied wasn’t always easy to get to that point, but it was always worth it,” Ms. Coble, executive director for the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, said.
She met her wife, Ann Wearmouth, in 2000, when the two were working on an oil spill together. The two started dating a year later and married in 2018.
Ms. Wearmouth, a retired environmental engineer, described her wife as a doer, waiting for a new adventure to discover each day.
“She was a force; she was passionate about the things she believed in and the people that she cared for. She was an amazing scientist and amazing wife, amazing partner through life. Always ready to try something new to do,” Ms. Wearmouth said.
Just one month after their wedding, Ms. McGee was diagnosed with breast cancer. They spent the next five years making the best of the situation with spontaneous adventures, like a bike trip to Vietnam and spending time on the water, her favorite place.
“She loved being outdoors and came to life walking on the beach, hiking, biking, kayaking, fishing. That was her place. And so when you experienced those outdoor places with her, you saw it in a different way. You felt it at a deeper level because you’re experiencing her joy, her vision of it,” Ms. Coble said.
Ms. McGee continued to work even after her diagnosis and the cancer metastasized.
Prost said Ms. McGee made everyone and everything she interacted with better: the Chesapeake Bay, her co-workers and those who had the pleasure of knowing her.
“She is one of the people that you looked at and interacted with and said’ ‘That’s who I want to be when I grow up,’” Prost said. “An expert in her field. Generous with her knowledge. Always looking out for others. Wanting to have a good time. Not taking herself or anything too seriously. She had that balance that we all strive for but really just someone you want to be who would figure out how to make a significant impact professionally and have a huge circle of friends.”
Beth was preceded in death by her parents and is survived by her wife, Ann Wearmouth; her brother, Donald McGee of Monrovia; her sister, Ann McGee Green of Roanoke, Virginia; and four nieces and nephews.
Beth McGee loved the water, especially the Chesapeake Bay.