A groundbreaking corporate lawyer in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, as well as a beloved wife and mother, Atherton resident Margaret Gill, 80, died at her home on April 17, according to her family. The cause of death was complications from a fall, her husband Stephen said.

Born in Webster Groves, Missouri, on March 2, 1940, Gill attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where she met Stephen, her partner of 58 years, on a blind date. The two married in 1961.

After following Stephen to his native California in 1964, she attended University of California at Berkeley School of Law and rented a house in Atherton on Pine Street. She was one of a handful of women graduating in her class of 1965, according to Mary Cranston, who Margaret mentored at the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop.

She then joined San Francisco's oldest and largest law firm, Pillsbury Madison and Sutro (now Pillsbury Winthrop) as an associate attorney, where she ultimately worked for 30 years, Cranston said. The couple bought a house in Atherton in 1966. Margaret was the first woman promoted to partner in the firm in 1973, Cranston said.

"Margaret is the most remarkable woman I have ever met," Stephen said in a tribute to his wife. "She undertook the challenges of being a wife, a mother, and a career professional in a world still unaccustomed to a capable and ambitious woman."

The pair had their first child, Elizabeth, after Margaret made partner. Later, they would have a son named Richard.

Margaret was widely regarded as one the top merger and acquisitions defense experts in the U.S., Cranston said. She was a principal architect of what became known as the "poison pill" — a tactic used by companies threatened with an unwelcome takeover bid to make themselves unattractive to the bidder, Cranston explained.

Later, Margaret became senior vice president for legal and external affairs of AirTouch, where she served until 1999. At AirTouch, Margaret worked to grow the nascent cellular business into a global powerhouse. She orchestrated the regulatory and business strategy that shaped the developing cellular marketplace, and was recognized as one of the most influential general counsels in the country.

Music was a central part of Margaret's life, Stephen said. She participated in a choir until she went to college. She also served for many years as a vice chair of the San Francisco Ballet Board of Trustees, as well as in leading roles on the boards of United Way Bay Area, the Episcopal Diocese of California and the United Religions Initiative.

Margaret and Stephen traveled to almost every continent; their favorite trips were to London, Paris, southern France and northern Italy. They would shop at art galleries and antique stores to furnish their house. Stephen remembers one particular trip to Paris during which they bought a Marc Chagall lithograph, taking up half of their trip budget.

She also loved cultivating gardens, particularly camellias, and one variety of the flower is named after her, Stephen said.

Tributes to Margaret can be found here and here.

Margaret is survived by her husband Stephen, daughter Elizabeth, son Richard and three grandchildren.

Margaret’s memorial service is on hold until the shelter-in-place order is lifted, Stephen said.

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