Longtime Malibu resident Bibi Mays died on Aug. 25. She was 72.
Social activist, supporter of the arts and education, an astounding cook and a good neighbor, especially to those in the La Costa area where she lived, Mays died after an accidental fall.
She was born Luisa Bibiana Noriega in 1931 in New York City. Her father was a Spanish businessman who became an American citizen, her mother a native of New Jersey. Her family moved to suburban New Jersey, where Mays was educated in Catholic schools. She then attended Stephens College in Columbia, Mo., where she majored in aviation. Mays had a commercial pilot’s license but gave up flying when she was expecting her first child.
She met her husband, John Mays, a Caltech- and Columbia-educated physicist, when they were both working at the famed Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J. They were married in 1955. In 1960, John Mays took a job at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C., and the family moved there. Bibi Mays became active in the national Reading is Fundamental program (RIF), which motivates children to read by providing free books, and she was a member of the board of directors of the Washington Public Library. She was also involved in production of the Kennedy Center Honors program, honoring performing artists.
The couple moved to Pacific Palisades after John Mays’ retirement in 1983, and to Malibu in 1991. They lost their home in the Malibu fire of 1993 but soon rebuilt. Bibi Mays was one of the creators of special regulations for rebuilding the La Costa area after the fire.
Known for her optimism, personal grace and good will, Bibi Mays was a familiar figure threading her way through the Farmers’ Market, picking up books at the Malibu Library and dropping off sunflowers to an ailing friend. She was full of energy and got along very easily with people of all ages, backgrounds and interests. She was a valued contributor to group enterprises. She loved walking in Malibu and going off on jaunts of all kinds with friends and family, especially with her grandchildren in France.
In addition to her husband, John, Bibi Mays is survived by her children, Chris of Berkeley, Calif.; Claire Poumadère and her two children, Victoire and Valentin of Paris, France; her sister, Marina Tarrico of Maryland; and her brother, Juan Noriega, who lives in South Carolina.