Marguerite S. Owen

Marguerite S. Owen-Webster of Oxford, MD, died peacefully at home in her sleep, without pain, on October 14, 2017. She was born at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Washington, DC,. on September 1, 1938. In her home at the time she died (7:37 p.m.), she was surrounded by members of her family. Present were her two brothers, Ted and Steve Schimpff; Ted's wife Alice; Ted and Alice's son Dr. Scott Schimpff; a physician from Jacksonville, FL, whose practice focuses on pain management, who came to Oxford to minister to Marguerite in the final days of her life, and who kept her pain free; Scott's wife, Gina; Marguerite's husband, David Webster; David's son Steven and his wife, Lora. Marguerite was brought up in College Park, MD, attended local public schools, and graduated from Northwestern High School in 1956. She entered Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, as a freshman that September and graduated Phi Beta Kappa four years later with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Her education continued at Yale Law School ending in 1963 with a law degree. During her law school career, she was elected to the Yale Law Journal and to the Order of the Coif, both of which are academic honors. Marguerite took and passed the DC Bar in 1963 and was a member of the bar until her death. That same year, she entered private practice in a tax and international law firm named Surrey and Morse (later Surrey, Karasik and Morse). She became a partner in the firm in 1968 and rose to become its president. In 1975, Marguerite and another partner, Michael Nussbaum, left to form their new firm of Nussbaum and Owen in Washington, DC, (which later became Nussbaum, Owen and Webster). She left that firm in 1990 during the savings and loan crisis to take the first of three government positions, all of which involved financial matters. From 1990 to 1995, she worked as an attorney with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. She then served as Deputy General Counsel of the DC Financial Control Board, which was chartered by Congress to take control of District of Columbia financial matters at a time then the District government. was close to insolvency. After five years as Deputy General Counsel, she became the General Counsel (and sole employee) of the Emergency Loan Guarantee Board, a new entity chartered by Congress, which administered three government loan guarantee programs in the airline, steel, and oil and gas industries, all of which were suffering economic problems at the time. The three loan guarantee programs were overseen by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Washington, DC. Marguerite was active in the DC Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, serving as the group's Co-Chair, on its Board of Trustees, and as Trustee Emeritus. She retired fully from law practice in 2007 and lived in Oxford, MD until her death. A private interment will occur at the Oxford Cemetery. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, November 4, 2017, at 2:00 p.m., at The Church of the Holy Trinity, 502 South Morris Street, in Oxford, MD, followed by a Celebration of Her Life at the Tred Avon Yacht Club, 102 West Strand, also in Oxford. In lieu of flowers, donations to honor Marguerite may be made to The Church of the Holy Trinity Mission Fund, P.O. Box 387, Oxford, Maryland.

Marguerite S. Owen

September 1, 1938 - October 14, 2017