Margaret Ann Stackhouse was born 24 January 1952 at Plainfield, NJ. She was the daughter of Doctor James Stackhouse (a descendant of Thomas Stackhouse, Jr. who came to Pennsylvania with William Penn in 1682) and Mildred Woodward Stackhouse. Margaret graduated as a National Merit Scholar from Plainfield High School in 1970 with Highest Honors and almost perfect SAT scores. She received the Rensselaer Award for Mathematics and Science, and was selected for the National Science Foundation’s Special Physics Program at Cornell University. Her philosophical analysis of the movie “2001” received considerable attention and was published in “The Making of Kubrick’s 2001”, edited by Jerome Agel. The amazing thing is that Miss Stackhouse was a junior at North Plainfield (N.J.) High School and 15 years old when she wrote her reflections on 2001!

In a statement made to Jerome Agel, she said that she was “primarily interested in science and mathematics. However, I don’t wish to limit myself when there are so many other fascinating fields to explore: psychology, art, music, philosophy, history, anthropology, political science, literature, education, languages, etc. I may decide to go into nuclear physics or abstract (pure) math, or I may make a study of the mind. I would like to try to find the relationships, if any, in the physical, emotional, and spiritual levels of the mind. (For example, are there any biochemical bases for the ‘soul’?) My major concern at this stage is to find a challenge — only then can I discover my intellectual, social, and spiritual identity. The most outstanding people I have ever known have a basic self- assurance that has enabled them to live life fully and zestfully. This type of living is my goal.”

She entered Princeton University in 1970 and graduated in 1974 summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and a Princeton University Scholar, as well as other awards. In 1975 she went to Athens and studied modern Greek. She spent the next 2 years in Turkey where she married, mastered Turkish, and became engrossed in the Middle East. In 1978 she and her husband returned to New York where she was awarded a fellowship in Middle Eastern Language and Culture at Columbia U. School of Graduate Studies. Her marriage ended and she received a Master of Arts degree in 1981. She then won a year’s fellowship at the American Institute of Indian Studies in New Delhi. She died of a tropical disease in Bangalore, India, 19 October 1984.