In Memoriam

Margaret Barrier: 1929-2012

Margaret Barrier served on the advisory board of our human origins research facilities CRAFT (Center for Research into the Anthropological Foundations of Technology, Indiana University) and of the Stone Age Institute (www.stoneageinstitute.org) for well over two decades. Margaret was Nicholas Toth’s undergraduate advisor at Western College in Oxford, Ohio forty years ago, and remained an important advisor and supporter of Nicholas Toth and his wife and co-researcher Kathy Schick throughout their careers. “There is nobody in the world that had a more important influence on me” said Toth. “She guided me throughout my professional and personal life, and made me realize the power of one woman to make a difference in the world”.

Margaret received her B.A. from Mary Baldwin College in Virginia and an M.A. from the University of North Carolina. She also did advanced study at the University of California, Berkeley (including a course in human evolution from Clark Howell). She taught sociology and anthropology at Salem College, North Carolina, and at Western College and Miami University in Ohio. While at Western College she was advanced to full professor and departmental chair. She also served as a senior academic advisor in the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Miami University. She was involved in a number of community activities, including serving on the board of the Butler County Mental Health Board, Board of Family Service, Planned Parenthood, and the Oxford branch of the NAACP.

Our condolences go out to her family and friends. We will miss her words of encouragement, her courage and resilience in the face of her many health adversities, and her warm, positive attitude towards life.

Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick,
Co-Directors, Stone Age Institute