Statement on the Death of Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead's life was impressively full and productive. Beginning with the publication of "Coming of Age in Samoa," half a century ago, she brought the humane insights of cultural anthropology to a public of millions. In her life as in her thought, she went wherever her probing intelligence would take her. Intrepid and independent, she was a model for several generations of young Americans, especially women. She was loved for her compassionate belief that varying cultural patterns express an underlying human unity.