Margaret Leigh Pate

Published 4:33 pm Thursday, September 8, 2022

Margaret Leigh Pate, age 55, passed away June 25, 2022 in Seattle, Washington.

She was born Nov. 30, 1966 in Birmingham, daughter of the late Dr. Eugene W. Pate, Jr. and Mary Lou Traywick Pate.

Leigh grew up in Kinston, North Carolina, graduated from Parrott Academy High School, and Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina.

She was employed by the Democrat National Committee in Washington DC and worked for the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1992 in Little Rock, Arkansas. She served on The Presidential Inaugural Committee in 1992 and served as an independent political campaign consultant prior to relocating to the Seattle area, where she founded Leigh Pate Public Affairs. She worked as an independent consultant on political issues and campaigns for state and local ballot measures.

She was an avid outdoors woman who enjoyed hiking, camping in the Pacific Northwest, long distance bike riding in India, Italy, Slovenia, Nova Scotia and more. She traveled to all seven continents, was a published author, and enjoyed photography, gardening, reading, scuba diving, fine food and wine. After her diagnosis with Lobular Breast Cancer, she organized the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance-LBCA, with a goal of educating patients about their disease and boosting research. Leigh’s contributions to LBCA have affected the lives of thousands of lobular breast cancer patients and their families. She was a Susan G. Komen Advocate in Science, a Susan G. Komen Scholar, A Fred Hutch Cancer Center patient advocate, a consumer grant reviewer for the Department of Defense Congressionally Mandated Research Program, the Breast Cancer Research Program and Ovarian Cancer Research Program, and the Conquer Cancer Foundation.

Surviving are her mother, Mary Lou Traywick Pate of Birmingham; sister, Mary Ann Pate; brother-in-law, Jeff Greene; a tribe of cousins; a host of friends.

She was preceded in death by her father, Dr. Eugene W. Pate, Jr.; grandparents, Margeret Butt Pate and Eugene W. Pate, Sr. of Kinston, North Carolina and Zora Durbin Traywick Kendrick, M. Luther Traywick of Chilton County, Alabama.

A celebration of life memorial service was held in Seattle, Washington on July 24, 2022.

A memorial service and interment of her ashes will be held Sept. 25, 2022, at 12:30 p.m. at Shiloh Baptist Church, 4506 County Road 16, Clanton, Alabama 35045.

Gifts in Leigh’s memory may be addressed to www.lobularbreastcancer.org or by check mailed to LBCA, Inc., P.O. Box 200, White Horse Beach, Mass. 02381. Please include a note directing the donation to the Leigh Pate Memorial Advocacy Fund.

Martin Funeral Home directing.

You may leave online condolences for the family on the guest registry at www.martinfuneralhomeinc.com.