When Marilyn J. Mason learned of her advanced lung cancer four years ago, the renowned psychologist, author and consultant with deep Minnesota roots set some modest goals to accomplish before she died.
She wanted to write another book, go on safari in Africa one last time and live to see her 80th birthday. She died Oct. 16 at age 81, having accomplished all three. In fact she had two parties when she turned 80, one near her family in the Twin Cities and another in Santa Fe, N.M., where she spent her last decade and a half.
"She said to me that she was leaving without a bucket list, because she finished it," said Gary Cohen, an executive coach in Minneapolis and longtime friend of Mason's. "That's who she was. She lived life to the edge, and she did it to the end. I think that's what drew people to her."
Draw people, she did. Several friends and family members said she acted as a "connector" wherever she lived, whether it was in the Twin Cities where she worked as a psychologist in private practice and on staff at the University of Minnesota, or in New Mexico, where her widely varying roles included volunteering for not-for-profits such as the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.
Throughout her life, she worked as an organizer and tour guide on scores of group trips to exotic locations, developing a close connection in particular with the Maasai people in northern Tanzania. In therapy, she was known for her deep insight and sometimes-unconventional techniques such as getting family members to go rock-climbing together to expose trust issues that could be addressed in therapy.
At parties, Mason was always the person who introduced strangers. Anna Hargreaves first met her when Mason was doing a book reading at the old Hungry Mind bookstore in St. Paul. The two women had friends in common, and when they both moved to Santa Fe to escape the tough climate, they bonded quickly and became decadelong friends.
"She made friends here very quickly, and then she wanted her friends to meet her new friends," Hargreaves said. "Half of our friends here are actually people that she introduced us to."
Oprah Winfrey, who invited Mason to be a guest on her television show five times over the years, recognized her moxie. So did the Dalai Lama, with whom Mason was close, according to Cohen. Powerful families and corporations never stopped hiring Mason for private counseling and organizational consulting. A corporate-client list on her website includes Cargill, Target and 3M.
