Mallory, Margaret

OAKLAND -- Back in 1963 when Margaret Mallory joined the Oakland Tribune, women writers in the home section didn't get their own byline. While Mallory would eventually receive the recognition she deserved as an award-winning food editor during her 22-year career at the Tribune, she -- like many before her -- wrote under the Tribune's traditional food-section pen name of "Martha Lee" for several years, until she took a stand and insisted on using her own name. "That's how they did things in those days," said Mallory's daughter, Marty Walker, of San Francisco. "But my mother didn't like that. She told the editors that the sports writers got their own bylines, why not food? While my mom wasn't really a feminist, she did get 'Martha Lee' retired and got her own name in the paper from then on."

Mallory, a resident of the Rossmoore senior community in Walnut Creek, died Feb. 13 , 2011 at John Muir Medical Center following complications from a broken leg. She was 90.

Mallory lived in Castro Valley until moving to Rossmoor in Walnut Creek in the '90s. She spent her retirement "enjoying life, with quite the social network of friends," her daughter said. Mallory is survived by her daughter; her son, Milton Mallory, of Mountain View; and one grandson. She was preceded in death by her husband and her six siblings.