Jaylee Mead dies: NASA astronomer was a cultural benefactor in D.C. For decades Gilbert and Jaylee Mead lived in Greenbelt and worked in relative obscurity at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, he as a geophysicist and she as an astronomer. They came, in some ways, from different universes. Gilbert was an heir to the riches of Consolidated Papers in Wisconsin - one of the largest papermakers in North America - while Jaylee was the daughter of a general store owner in rural North Carolina. The two scientists met through an amateur Broadway troupe for Goddard employees, found a kinship in their love of the theater and married in 1968. In the late 1980s, after years of quiet patronage of local playhouses, the Meads established themselves as two of the most generous arts philanthropists in the capital. "It's just like in "Hello, Dolly!,"" Dr. Mead once told The Washington Post. Money should be spread around, like manure. Dolly Levi says that, and I really believe it. Gilbert Mead died in 2007, three years before the opening of the couple's most dramatic project: the fully renovated Arena Stage in Southwest Washington, renamed the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in recognition of the couple's $35 million in gifts and matching pledges. With a new glass entrance and cantilevered roof, the complex includes working space for artists and has been cited as a key element of urban revitalization efforts in Southwest. Other beneficiaries of the Meads" largesse include the 200-seat Mead Theatre at the Studio Theatre in Northwest, which specializes in contemporary works, and the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, which offers free daily concerts for tourists and Washingtonians. The couple underwrote the Mead Theatre Lab for experimental plays at the Flashpoint cultural center downtown and the Mead Lobby at the Signature Theatre in Arlington. Over the years they supported local organizations including the Levine School of Music, the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and the Washington Chorus, as well as dozens of individual theatrical productions across the region. The Arena Stage project was a fitting capstone for the Meads" decades of philanthropic work. Founded in 1950, the company was created during a national movement to cultivate regional theater across the United States. When she first became involved with theater in Washington in the 1960s, Dr. Mead once noted in an interview, many actors had to go to New York City to find work. "Our hope was to keep them here," she said. The Meads" contributions to cultural life in Washington are often compared to those of Arlene and Robert Kogod, who built the courtyard connecting the National Portrait Gallery and the American Art Museum, and Victoria and Roger Sant, who gave millions of dollars to organizations including the Smithsonian Institution and the National Symphony Orchestra.