November 26, 1929 - May 16, 2015
Born in New York to Max and Florence Magida, Marilyn was diagnosed with severe scoliosis in her early teens. She was told by various doctors that she would be unable to walk by the time she was in her late thirties, and that she would never be able to have children. Being a strong-willed and somewhat contrary person, she proceeded to prove her doctors wrong.
Marilyn studied marine microbiology at NYU and Columbia, and spent years working as a research biologist at the New York Museum of Natural History. When she and her then husband, Ivan Tentchoff, heard from a friend of the "horrible" untamed wilderness of western Canada, they decided to move to B.C. Along with their daughter, they spent years exploring the west coast by boat, travelling everywhere from northern USA up to the Arctic. Later they bought a fishing trawler in Scotland, and the family spent a year sailing it back to Canada, where Marilyn went back to school, studying archaeometry at SFU and Western Washington University. She worked for some time as the curator of the Gibsons Pioneer Museum, then helped to develop and teach an aquiculture program.
Marilyn loved teaching, science, animals, and nature, and supported many charities. Despite her doctors' predictions, she walked proudly until a few months before her death, and leaves behind friends and family, as well as her many students from over the years.