A Tearful Farewell to Melanie Mayer-Gideon: True MLML Champion, Friend, and Alumna

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Melanie Mayer-Gideon

By Kristin Walovich

Last week the MLML community lost Melanie Mayer-Gideon, a tremendous supporter, friend and alumna.

Melanie was a native of north Monterey County, attending Moss Landing Marine Laboratories where she studied flowering plant recruitment into the newly restored Elkhorn Slough salt marsh. Two years after the completion her thesis, Melanie was instrumental in the reconstruction of the labs after they were completely destroyed by the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. She founded and directed Coastal Conservation and Research, a non-profit that supports watershed restoration, developed the SCINI remote underwater vehicle for under ice exploration, and funds students at MLML. She gave five tuition scholarships to graduate students at MLML just this year.

Melanie’s contributions to MLML and the Moss Landing community are innumerable and priceless. She will be greatly missed.

  • "This is very sad news. Melanie was a great supporter of the Labs and dedicated to the Moss Landing community. She was way too young to leave this earth. She will be missed very much. - H. Gary Greene, Moss Landing Marine Labs"
  •  "It is very sad to hear, Melanie has been a foundation of Moss Landing for a long time. Everyone has great memories of Melanie, one of my most vivid ones is when she beat the bushes to get as many MLML supporters as possible to attend en masse a meeting at the County offices in Salinas to support the rebuilding of the lab. - Rick Starr, Moss Landing Marine Labs"
  • "I can only, with great sadness, echo what others have said about Melanie. I have fine memories of working with her on her innovative research in the Slough. Her efforts to rebuild MLML were and continued to be exceptional, as was her service on the Water Board. She will be missed. My heart goes out to her family. -Mike Foster, Moss Landing Marine Labs"