In Memoriam

Margaret Seaver Montarras
1953-2024

FRANCE—Meg (Margaret) Seaver Montarras, daughter of the late Robert Badger and Mary Sheil Seaver of Cooperstown, died peacefully in France on Sunday, January 28, 2024 after spending two years keeping pancreatic cancer at bay with her indomitable “joie de vivre.”

Meg and her twin sister, Sash, were born in Philadelphia in 1953 but moved to Cooperstown with their family in 1960. Meg graduated from Cooperstown Central School in 1971. After stints at Sarah Lawrence and Mount Holyoke colleges, she moved to France and finished her degree at University of Paris VIII.

She worked first as a library assistant at the American School of Paris. Then, in 1985, she earned a master’s degree in library science from U.C. Berkeley and became the head librarian of the ASP Lower School. She only recently retired, after an illustrious library career of more than 40 years.

As important as her career was, Meg’s family was ALL. In 1990, Meg and Didier Montarras, a biologist at the Pasteur Institute, were married in Sevres, France and had two sons, Paul Emmett and Alan Francois. Meg and “her boys” lived a quintessential Paris life centered on family, friends, meals, music, and ideas (and rugby!). 

In France, she leaves Didier, Paul, and Alan; her niece, Carine, and nephews Hugo and Thomas; as well as extended family, friends, and colleagues. In the U.S., she leaves her four siblings, Brig (Louise Schemm), Sash (Jack Spielberg), Maud, and Din; her nieces, Lydia, Gillian, and Tilly; her nephews, Robert, John, Natty, and Samuel; her step-mother, Veronica Gil Seaver; and many cousins, friends, and extended family—she was a force of connection to so many all around the world.