Mary Shaw McCutcheon (born July 13, 1947) is an American anthropologist, lecturer, researcher, Angel Flight pilot, and co-chair of the Old Dominion Chapter of the Ninety-Nines. She is the niece of cartoonist Shaw McCutcheon and the granddaughter of Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist John T. McCutcheon.
Early life and education McCutcheon was born in Chicago, the younger sister of Anne McCutcheon Lewis and the older sister of John T. McCutcheon III. At a young age she moved to Lake Forest, Illinois to live in a house her grandfather owned that he called "Bird Center," named after a series of cartoons he did poking fun at suburban life in Chicago.
After finishing high school in Lake Forest, McCutcheon attended Rice University, originally to study to be in the space program but became interested in anthropology, receiving her anthropology degree in 1969. Before entering the professional world of museums and academia, McCutcheon spent much of her time on a private island her grandfather owned near Nassau, Bahamas called "Salt Cay," which he sold in 1979.
Career From 1984 to 1990, McCutcheon worked at the Smithsonian Institution in the Directorate of International Affairs, and taught anthropology to Palauan students in Micronesia at the University of Guam. From 1988 to 2004, she taught anthropology at George Mason University.
Piloting McCutcheon received her pilot's license in 1996 and bought her first plane, a Cessna, in 2000. She has flown her plane for humanitarian and environmental organizations, serving as a volunteer pilot for groups like SouthWings and Angel Flight.
McCutcheon lives in Northern Virginia.
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