Mary Zeiss Stange

Mary Zeiss Stange, a beloved professor, writer, and feminist scholar, passed away on July 6, 2024, at the age of 74.

Born on July 5, 1950, Mary dedicated her life to exploring and advocating for women's equality and shared a unique space in the academic world linking feminist theory, ecofeminism, religious studies, and women as hunters.

Mary's academic career as a professor included teaching at several higher educational institutions including Clarkson University, St. Lawrence University, Black Hills State University, Dana College, Montana State University at Billings, and Central Michigan University before embarking on a 26-year career at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY as a professor of women's studies and religion, and as the college's first Director of Women's Studies Program. Her popular courses included Women, Religion, and Spirituality; Goddesses and Amazons; Ecofeminism, Women and Environment; Feminism, Politics, and Globalization; and several Feminist Theory Seminars.

Mary shared her life with her students and academic colleagues at Skidmore College and with her spouse Doug on the Crazy Woman Bison Ranch, in Ekalaka, MT. For 37 years, Mary and Doug transformed seven square miles of degraded grasslands at the base of the Chalk Buttes in the southeastern corner of Montana into thriving hills, forest, and prairie, proving that returning this area literally to a place where buffalo roamed, and deer and antelope played was the best and most ecologically and economically sustainable use of the land.

Mary weaved her personal and academic interests together into many published books, notably, Woman the Hunter, Gun Women, and her memoir Hard Grass: Life on the Crazy Woman Bison Ranch; as a co-editor with Carol Oyster to The Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World; in prominent articles published in a variety of magazines including Journal of Law, The Women's Review of Books, Economics and Policy, Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia, Liberty Magazine, Outdoor America; and as a regular contributor for USA Today. Her work was the subject of several profile interviews in publications including the New York Times, Sierra Magazine, and a lengthy feature interview by the late Barbara Ehrenreich in Ms. Magazine.

Upon her retirement in 2016, Skidmore College established the Mary Zeiss Stange Award in Religion, which annually recognizes the outstanding accomplishment by a senior major.

In 2018, Mary plunged into Montana State politics as the Democratic Party's nominee for State Senator, District 19: a heavily Republican district covering a large geographic area in southeastern Montana. Her campaign focused on reproductive freedom for women, land use conservation, and access to quality education for all Montanans. During the global pandemic, Mary and Doug realized the time had come to sell Crazy Woman Bison Ranch and retire to their property on Lake Helena. In 2021, Mary was diagnosed with dementia which rapidly accelerated over the next few years. She was able to be at home and with Doug and her beloved springer spaniels and feline companions when she died.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Mary's honor to a non-profit organization dedicated to women's equality or environmental stewardship would be appreciated. Memorial services have not yet been determined and any notes or tributes can be sent to Mary's friend and one-time student Helene Schneider (Skidmore Class of 1992) at helenedschneider@gmail.com.