HANCOCK – Anne Whittier Geier, 79, died Aug. 9, 2007, surrounded by family at her home. Born in 1928 in Atlanta, her mother, Margaret York Whittier, was a registered nurse on Boston’s Floating Hospital, as well as on Cape Cod, and her father, Sidney Boyden Whittier, a noted engineer and inventor who worked with Edwin Land in the development of the Polaroid instant camera. She attended high school at Shady Hill, Cambridge, Mass., and Bennington College, Bennington, Vt., where she earned a Bachelor of Science in biology. She was married to James A.D. Geier, former president and CEO of Cincinnati Milacron, Inc. Because of her love of science, Mrs. Geier devoted many years volunteering at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, where she helped assemble and catalogue important collections, in fields ranging from birds to sea shells to spiders, becoming a near expert in each subject. The rumor that she once smuggled a dangerous tarantula on board a flight from South America for the museum is untrue, they took it away from her, but not before she made one of the men promise not to kill it, but to take it home as a pet for one of his children. She was a giving person, beloved by her children and grandchildren and admired by many loyal friends. Her philanthropic causes were in the arts and the environment. She privately assisted many young artists. She leaves behind three children and four grandchildren; daughter, Deborah Anne Oney of West Barnstable, Mass.; and sons, James Develin Geier and Aylward Whittier Geier of Cincinnati.Memorial donations may be sent to The Geier Collections and Research Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, or The Frenchman’s Bay Conservancy, P.O. Box 606 Ellsworth, ME 04605.
ANNE WHITTIER GEIER
