Marie and Arch McKellar
Recipients of the Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic Impact Award
September 2020
 

Arch McKellar was born on a wheat farm in Alberta where he went to school in a one room schoolhouse.  The economics of this rural area were dominated by farming and coal mining and there was nothing resembling Planned Parenthood.  Illegal and unsafe abortions were widely known and abstinence was the only solution that was openly discussed.

 

After graduate school at the University of Illinois, Arch taught at Princeton and Brooklyn Poly before joining IBM Research in 1970.  At IBM, he managed the Computer Science Institute at the IBM Tokyo Research Lab, while Marie was on the faculty of the Tokyo campus of Temple University.

 

Marie was born in Chicago and met Arch at the U. of Illinois graduate school.  She is retired from a career as Professor of Mathematics.  She was Chair of the Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science at Mercy College for 15 years.

 

Since retiring, they have been active in volunteer activities.

 

 Marie is currently involved at Mercy College, helping the Department to hire mathematics faculty to encourage women and minorities to study mathematics and computer science.

 

Marie is active with the Mathematical Association of America, where she has been instrumental in organizing and funding two grant programs, to encourage women and minorities to study mathematics and science.

 

Marie has been active in AAUW—American Association of University Women, whose mission is to advance gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy. She is a past president of the Westchester Branch.

 

Both Marie and Arch have been involved in volunteer activities at Dobbs Ferry, leading the drive to develop the Dobbs Ferry Waterfront Park—a project that cost $6.5 m and included NYS, County, Dobbs Ferry, and private funding, opening in 2015.  They now lead a 501c3 corporation, Friends of the Dobbs Ferry Waterfront Park, Inc., which supports the improvement and development of the Dobbs Ferry Waterfront Park for use by the general public. 

 

Both Marie and Arch are strong supporters of Planned Parenthood and a woman’s right to choose.