Margaret S. Ewing, 84, died peacefully at home in Stillwater on 31 July 2024. A lover of the prairie and rivers of Oklahoma and intertidal zone of the St. Helena Sound, she was born on 4 April 1940 in New York, New York to Margaret and Charles Steffens. She graduated from high school in Massillon, Ohio (where she was a proud clarinet-playing member of the marching band), and completed her undergraduate degree in Zoology at Oberlin College. She came to Oklahoma State University to study aquatic ecology, completing her MS in 1964 and PhD in 1966, both in Zoology.

In the summer of 1961 she met Sidney Ewing at the University of Michigan Biological Field Station, and they married in 1963. They had three daughters, Holly, Ann, and Leah, born in three different states.

Margaret, a zoologist who studied water quality and fish parasites, taught courses ranging from introductory biology, invertebrate zoology, and parasitology to seminars on water quality and fish disease, symbiosis, the contributions of women to science, and the connection of biology to science fiction. Although she did not secure a tenure-track position at Oklahoma State until 1982, she became the first woman to be promoted to full professor in the Zoology Department in 1994. Her scholarship ranged widely and included studies of fish parasites as well as collaborations with social scientists and humanists. She made long-lasting contributions as a graduate student mentor, an engaging teacher for the several thousand students who came through her classes, and a forward-thinking educator who established an endowed lectureship to build bridges between biology and the arts and humanities.

Although a zoologist by profession, she was passionate about music, literature, poetry, metaphors, art, landscape, and community. She found refuge among the trees and in the streams, enjoying the play of light, the sounds of wind and water, the small creatures in hidden places, and the patterns of sky through the trees. She studied and wrote poetry and delighted in music, humor, and creative projects. She volunteered for hospice and Mobile Meals and was a literacy tutor for many years.

She was a spirited and thoughtful person, creative and passionate teacher, great lover of dogs, and devoted friend. She is survived by friends with whom she shared deep connections, the generous caregivers and neighbors who saw her through the final journey, her brother, John D. Steffens, many nieces and nephews, and daughters, Holly A. Ewing (Carissa Aoki), Ann K. Ewing (Ryan Schwindt), and Leah G. Ewing (Geoffrey Tattersfield), as well as one grandchild, Luke C. Schwindt. She was predeceased by her husband of 54 years, Sidney A. Ewing, her parents Margaret C. and Charles D. Steffens, her brother Charles F. Steffens and his wife Louise A. Steffens, and several dear friends.

A memorial will be held in the Oakcreek Community's common house at 1806 N. Husband St., Stillwater, at 1 PM, Saturday, 10 August 2024. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Friends of Music at Oklahoma State University or to the Botanic Garden at Oklahoma State University. Cremation and management of remains is being handled by Strode Funeral Home and Cremation.