Mill Valley, CA

Mary Jean (“MJ”) Jawetz, age 97, passed away inher sleep onFebruary 5,2025, at her home in Mill Valley, California. Born in Annapolis, Maryland, she lost her mother atayoung age, and lived with her Navy commander father, stepmother, and two sisters in various places on both coasts before attending Stanford University, where she earned a BA (’49) and an MA (‘53) in biological sciences. She raised four children in Mill Valley with her husband Dr. Ernest Jawetz, who she had met in 1953 when she was at the University of California Medical Center laboratory in San Francisco doing pioneering postgraduate work toward the transplantation of human endocrine tissues. Ernest, a Professor of Microbiology and Medicine at UCSF for 45 years, passed away in February 2001. Starting in 1979, Mary Jean devoted hundreds of hours per year volunteering for the Friends of the Mill Valley Public Library (raising thousands of dollars through used book sales) and for Hospice Hodgepodge, the thrift store that supports By the Bay Health hospice care. She is survived by her four loving children, Katie (Novato, CA), Steve (North Bethesda, MD), Mike (Palo Alto, CA), and Anne (Littleton, CO), along with six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She lives on in our hearts.