Washington Governor, Scientist. Born Marguerite Ray, she served as the 17th Governor Washington from 1977 to 1981. She attended Mills College in Oakland, California, earning an undergraduate and master's degree in zoology, and Stanford University where she received a doctoral degree in biological sciences. From 1957 to 1972 she served as a faculty member at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she taught classes in zoology as both as assistant and associate professor, and from 1963 to 1972 she served as director of the Seattle Pacific Science Center. She was the host of the weekly television show "Animals of the Sea," produced and broadcast by PBS affiliate KCTS-TV in Seattle. In 1972 she was appointed by President Richard Nixon to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) where she served as the first woman chairman from 1973 to 1975. From January 1975 to June 1975 she served as Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, International Environment, and Scientific Affairs. She quit her post after only six months into office, citing a lack of staff personnel to assist her in performing her job, and the failure of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to include her in policy making decisions. In 1976 she was elected as the first woman governor of the state of Washington, becoming only the second woman nationally to be elected to the office of governor. While governor she received extreme criticism for her pro nuclear energy policies following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Russia, and for her management decisions regarding the pre and post eruption of Mt. St. Helens in May 1980. She was the recipient of numerous awards including the Clapp Award in Marine Biology (1958), the Frances K. Hutchinson Medal for Service in Conservation (1971), the United Nations Peace Medal (1973) the Frances Boyer Science Award in 1974 and more than 20 honorary degrees from colleges and universities around the United States. She was the author of "Trashing the Planet" in 1990 and "Environmental Overkill" in 1993. She died at her island home at the age of 79, resulting from complications of a bronchial infection.