Pearsall, Marion, 1923-

Marion Pearsall was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 27, 1923. Although not much is known of her childhood, her academic record begins with her graduation from Hamilton High School in Hamilton, New York, in 1940. She received her A. B. from the University of New Mexico in 1944, and in 1950 took a Ph. D. in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. That same year she accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Arkansas. In 1951, as a Fellow with the Rhodes-Livingston Institute, she spent time in then British Central Africa, studying the Tonga tribe of northern Nyasaland (now Malawi). After returning to the states she accepted a position in 1952 with the Anthropology Department at the University of Alabama, where she remained until 1956.

An active researcher and prolific writer, Pearsall had by this time published several articles and books on a variety of subjects and had begun to establish herself as an authority on the rural South and on the problems and potential of developing health care systems in the United States, both on the local and national levels. From 1956-58 she worked at Boston University as a Social Science Resident, working with several of the city hospitals and researching nursing supervision and outpatient care. In 1958 she took a position as Associate Professor of Sociology with the University of Kentucky, and became a full professor in the behavioral science department (through the College of Medicine) in 1964.

In addition to teaching, researching, and publishing, Pearsall maintained an active involvement with the professional anthropology community. She was editor of the journal Human Organization from 1966 to 1971. In 1973 and 1974 she served as president of the Society of Medical Anthropology. She was instrumental in the establishment of a Lexington health maintenance organization, the Hunter Foundation for Health Care, and served as the foundation's chairman from 1977 to 1978. She was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Sociological Association, and the Rural Sociological Society. She was also a fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology, the Royal Anthropology Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, and the American Anthropological Association. Pearsall was a consultant to several national health and scientific organizations such as the National Institute of Mental Health, the Veterans Administration, the National Academy of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the Frontier Nursing Service.

Of particular interest among her writings and research is the extensive survey of health care quality, availability and delivery in the Appalachian region, particularly southeast Kentucky, in Leslie County. In 1971 she traveled to New Zealand and Australia, by way of Tahiti and Western Samoa. During the trip (a vacation, but one in which she could apply her anthropological interest) she kept a journal, which she titled "Down Under." It shows the ease, humor and detail of her writing style and offers fascinating insight into the social culture of these countries.

She remained with the University of Kentucky until her retirement in 1983 and, after a battle with cancer, she died June 15, 1984.