Margaret Moody has passed away after a long and eventful life, spending a greater part of it in the service of ICES. Meggie, as she was called in the Secretariat, was always committed fully to the tasks she took on and because of her many talents, these tasks were many.
An important one of these was socializing, something she did naturally whilst generously helping those who were not equally at ease in the various formal and informal gatherings. This made her the perfect personal secretary for the General Secretary, always with fresh flowers on her desk and making sure Basil Parrish and subsequent General Secretaries were served their afternoon cuppa. And when the Annual Science Conference (ASC) meetings dragged on, sometimes endlessly in “the good old days”, Margaret was always there to serve sandwiches and biscuits for all.
At dinner parties in connection with the Advisory Committee of Fishery Management (ACFM) semi-annual meetings at the Secretariat, food would normally be ordered from a caterer but Meggie pulled up another talent and simply arranged and made a superb home-cooked three-course meal, a special treat that was greatly appreciated by the 30–40 attendees. After arranging and serving the meal, she spread her socializing gene and made everyone feel at home. She also made “Coronation Chicken” and other memorable dishes for Bureau meetings and other events, all freely offered as part of her sense of duty. Privately, Meggie invited many staff to informal dinner parties in her own home, always at ease as the perfect hostess.
Everyone in ICES community knew Margaret. Besides taking good care of working group participants in the Secretariat, Margaret was the first person you met when registering for the ASC. She knew all the old-timers by name and made the newcomers feel welcome, giving all a sense of receiving special treatment. Besides, she was more than fluent in the three official ICES languages at the time (English, French, and German) - very helpful for those with English as their second or third language.
Upon retirement, Meggie decided to continue using her good talents by combining linguistics with socializing. Through her local senior citizens’ organization, she offered English conversation courses in her home, offering native English speakers the chance to converse freely in their own language as well as helping non-native speakers improve their skills, all in the comfy setting of a private home.
Margaret is remembered by Secretariat staff members, past and present, as a warm personality, embodying ICES family spirit that we all felt and which kept us together through thick and thin.
Thank you, Margaret, for your unswerving dedication to ICES, and for your kind and generous friendship over many years. You shall be sorely missed and fondly remembered.
Inger Lützhøft and Søren Lund
