Margaret Lee Algazi

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Margaret loved learning and teaching about plants and led popular tours of the arboretum’s collections from different regions of the world.

Margaret Algazi, a longtime resident of Davis, died Sunday, Aug. 30, from complications related to congestive heart failure. She was born on Feb. 1, 1938 in Portland, Maine, the second daughter of John and Edythe Foley. When Margaret was still very young, her parents divorced and she, Edythe, and her sister Eileen moved 30 miles north to Lewiston, to be closer to Edythe’s sister.

When Edythe contracted tuberculosis in 1944 and was confined to a sanatorium, Margaret and sister Eileen were sent to live at St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Lewiston. The orphanage was run by Sisters of Charity of Ste. Hyacinthe, a congregation of French-speaking nuns from Quebec. While at St. Joseph’s, Margaret excelled as a student, took up the piano and learned the Canadian French dialect spoken by the sisters.

After six years in the sanatorium, Edythe was well enough to return home and to reunite with her daughters in Lewiston, where the girls attended public schools. Margaret was a member of the Lewiston High School class of 1956 and was active in the debating and science clubs. She graduated one of the top 10 students in her class and one of only four high school students across New England to receive a Kiwanis Club Scholarship.

In the fall of 1956, Margaret enrolled at Bates College in Lewiston. At Bates, she joined the off-campus students’ club, where she met and befriended Betty Chadburn, who became her stepsister when Betty’s father and Margaret’s mother married. While a student at Bates, Margaret had a summer job collecting water samples from the Androscoggin River, which runs through Lewiston, under the supervision of Professor Walter Lawrance. At that time, the river was heavily polluted by the effluents from paper mills. Margaret graduated with her BS in chemistry in 1960.

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She leveraged her knowledge and love of plants in landscaping her yard, whose lasting beauty is a legacy of her passion for plants and her eye for design.

After graduating from Bates, Margaret left Maine for Boston, where there were more job opportunities for chemists. She found work as a research assistant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Margaret often took her meals at the dining hall in the Graduate House, which was frequented by international students. There, she met PhD student Raphael Algazi, originally from France. She and Raphael were able to converse in French, which Margaret had learned in the orphanage. They hit it off and, in 1963, married. They welcomed their first son, Andre, in 1964.

After finishing his PhD, Raphael accepted a position on the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Davis and the family moved to Davis. In 1966, the family settled in their newly-built home on Willow Lane, where Margaret lived for the rest of her life. In 1967, Margaret and Raphael welcomed a second son, Alain.

After a few years a stay-at-home mom, Margaret decided to pursue a master’s degree in chemistry at UC Davis, which she completed in 1973. In the mid-1970s, Margaret worked in the Department of Vegetable Crops, where she applied her analytical chemistry skills to analyzing tomato samples to identify compounds associated with better tasting fruit.

In the 1980s, Margaret became active in the volunteer-led Friends of the UC Davis Arboretum. She loved learning and teaching about plants and led popular tours of the arboretum’s collections from different regions of the world. She joined the Friends’ plant propagation group and helped plan and run the group’s annual plant sale. Margaret served as the organization’s president from 1986 – 1988, during which time she organized a popular series of lectures on topics related to botany and horticulture. She leveraged her knowledge and love of plants in landscaping her yard, whose lasting beauty is a legacy of her passion for plants and her eye for design.

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Cooking was another of her lifelong passions, and she led a re-design of her kitchen in 2004 to provide more space to prep and cook meals.

Throughout her life, the state of Maine held a special place in Margaret’s heart. After several visits, the family acquired a lakeside camp in the early 2000s, where they enjoyed summer family vacations for several years. Throughout her life Margaret enjoyed keeping up with extended family in Maine and buying gifts from there. In the 1990s, Margaret re-discovered ice skating, one of her favorite pastimes as a youth in Maine. She continued to skate and take lessons until around 2020.

Margaret’s grandchildren, Ryan and Claire, were a a great source of joy for her and she was a loving, attentive grandmother. She organized wonderful family birthday celebrations for them and looked forward to their annual stays in Davis.

Margaret loved books and reading, and she left behind an extensive library. Cooking was another of her lifelong passions, and she led a re-design of her kitchen in 2004 to provide more space to prep and cook meals, as well as store the many kitchen implements and gadgets she collected (and used!). The family has many memories of Margaret’s delicious, eclectic dinners.

Margaret is survived by her husband, Raphael of Davis; son André and his partner Hillary Campbell of Davis; son Alain, daughter-in-law Gail Shibata, and grandchildren Ryan and Claire of San Francisco. Margaret’s death has left a hole in the hearts of her family, who are greatly comforted by being together during this difficult time. They are also grateful for the love and support of extended family and friends.

A private memorial service will be held at the Algazi home in Davis at a date to be determined. Donations in Margaret’s name may be made to the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden through https://give.ucdavis.edu/AARB/RDSDONR-RMEMO (please specify that your gift is in memory of Margaret Algazi).