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Community loses advocate, arts supporter

by Connor Watkins
Public Relations
Retired MUSC employee and community supporter, Rebecca Mays, lost her battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease on July 6.
 
Rebecca Mays

In 1969, Mays began her career at MUSC as a secretary working in the Department of Otolaryngology. She later moved on to MUSC’s Research Coordinators Office as an administrative assistant. In 1980, she assumed the role of grants administrator with the Office of Research & Sponsored Programs. In December 1993, she retired from the Office of Research Integrity and Research Protection.
 
A patron of the arts, Mays was a board member of many Lowcountry arts programs including the Charleston Opera Company, Robert Ivey Ballet, the Southern Arts Federation and Workshop Theatre and the South Carolina Arts Commission. She shared her love of sailboat racing with others as a professional U.S. sailing race officer and member of the Sea Island Yacht Club, Charleston Yacht Club and Charleston Ocean Racing Association.

I always admired Rebecca for the level of commitment she exerted in everything she did. She was passionate about the arts, sailing and the protection of human subjects in biomedical research. She was MUSC’s biggest advocate for patients during the time she managed the Human Subjects Protection Program in what is now MUSC’s Office of Research Integrity.
—Peggy Schachte, director, Office of Research Development

As a medical student doing research in the old research building on Sabin Street, I have fond memories of Rebecca and Julia Hopkins.
—Robert J. Malcom, M.D., professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

I knew Rebecca from the Dock Street Theater, during the Golden Age of theatre in Charleston. She worked diligently behind the scenes. She was always there lending her support and was so much fun to be around. She made me feel as if I was around royalty. She was a leader among the many endeavors she chose to pursue. You wanted to be with her, she seemed to be a magnet that drew people to her. I valued her as a person. She was a wonderful ambassador for MUSC and led the Institutional Review Board to many successes.
—Suzanne Banks, retired director of Volunteer Services

I have fond memories of Rebecca through the years as a pleasant and cheerful person. Agreeable and always helpful.
—Layton McCurdy, M.D., Dean Emeritus, College of Medicine

 




Friday, July 24, 2009


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