Joanne Carol Bintz

Oceanographer Joanne Carol Bintz of Silver Spring, MD passed away Monday night after a three year battle with breast cancer. She was 46. Born in Schenectady, N.Y., to parents Lynda Colangelo and the late Arthur Bintz, Dr. Bintz was a graduate of Galway High School. She worked as a chef to put herself through college, attending both Schenectady Community College and Fulton-Montgomery Community College. Dr. Bintz's love of the ocean led her first to the Florida Institute of Technology where she completed a bachelor of science degree in oceanography, and then to Rhode Island where she obtained her Ph.D. in Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography in 2002. Dr. Bintz was an expert in coastal ecology and began her ocean science career in Washington, D.C., working for the National Academy of Sciences Ocean Studies Board in 2001 while she was still working on her doctoral dissertation. She went on to work for the Southeastern Universities Research Association for several years, and most recently began a new job with the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, also in Washington. She is survived by her husband of less than a year, Thomas McCombe; her mother Lynda Colangelo and stepfather John; her brother David Bintz and his partner Barbara Burt; her grandmother Mary Jane McChesney; many aunts, uncles and cousins; and a bluetick coonhound named Annabelle. "Throughout Joanne's life and all through her battle with cancer, she demonstrated absolute determination, the strength of a warrior, and the grace of a goddess," said one of her close friends from graduate school, Catalina Martinez. "She taught everyone around her what it truly means to live." Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time. A celebration of Dr. Bintz's life is being planned for later this summer in Rhode Island. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in her name may be sent to: Susan G. Komen for The Cure www.komen.org or The Ocean Conservancy Rapid Response and Recovery Team in the Gulf www.oceanconservancy.org. Please visit the family's guestbook at www.brbsfuneral.com.