Sylvia McLaughlin

Sylvia McLaughlin (December 24, 1916 – January 19, 2016) was an American environmental activist. She was best known for beginning and helping the movement to save the San Francisco Bay.

McLaughlin was born in Denver, Colorado. George E. Cranmer and Jean Chappell Cranmer were her parents. She grew up in an area with an interesting environment. She left Denver and went to Vassar College in New York.

She returned to Denver and married Donald H. McLaughlin. They  moved to Berkeley, California and started a family. When Sylvia saw the environment she lived she got mad. Pollution was ruining the Bay. This inspired McLaughlin to start Save the Bay with two other women in 1961. Save the Bay gathered together many other passionate activists and stopped 2,000 acres of land in the Berkeley bay from being filled with cement. For almost forty years, Sylvia remained on the Save the Bay board. She also joined many other environment focused boards.

Her work helped people learn about the environment of the bay and how to better protect it. Because of McLaughlin, California is still very careful about maintaining the bay’s healthy habitat and creating laws to further protect it.

After many years of hard work, Sylvia McLaughlin died at age 99. 

References

Category:1916 births
Category:2016 deaths
Category:People from California
Category:American environmentalists