Mary Meader
Rachael Mary Upjohn Light Meader (April 15, 1916 – March 16, 2008) was an American aerial photographer and explorer. Heir to the Upjohn Company fortune, she is best known in aerial circles for her 35,000-mile (56,000 km) flight in 1937–1938, during which she photographed unprecedented images of South America and Africa. Her African photographs were later featured in the book Focus on Africa. In her later years, she also became known in her native Kalamazoo, Michigan, for her philanthropy to Western Michigan University, the University of Michigan, and various Kalamazoo charities. Early life Mary Meader was born to William Harold Upjohn and Grace Genevieve Bray Upjohn in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on April 15, 1916, a grandchild of Dr. W. E. Upjohn, the founder of the pharmaceutical Upjohn Company. Meader majored in French and Spanish at Smith College. She left the college in preparation for a marriage to the neurosurgeon Richard Upjohn Light, a first cousin of hers. Since the two could not legally marry each other in Michigan, they moved to Maryland, where they married in 1935. Flight Dr. Light became famous among aviation enthusiasts due to his 1934 around-the-world flight. To celebrate his marriage to Meader, he wished to approximate