Megan Eleanor Cornog died Sunday, November 7, 2010 of cancer at her home in Carrboro, N.C. She is survived by her husband, Eric Moe, of Carrboro and her parents, Gary and Eleanor Cornog, of Middletown, R.I.
Born in Sharon, Conn., on August 20, 1981, Megan grew up on the campuses of Millbrook School, in Millbrook, N.Y., and St. George’s School in Newport, R.I. She excelled in sports and in the classroom at St. George’s. Megan’s career as a three-sport varsity athlete was capped by multiple achievements and characterized by her fierce competitiveness, her intense desire to learn and to inspire others and her patented trademark – inexhaustible swiftness on the field and on the basketball court.
Megan’s dedication to studies paralleled her dedication to sports. At UNC-Chapel Hill, Megan majored in English, minored in art history, involved herself in athletics through participation in club lacrosse and ultimate Frisbee and excelled in academics throughout her career. Graduating summa cum laude and inducted into the UNC chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in the fall of her senior year, she decided to take a break from studies after her graduation in the spring of 2003.
Working as a project supervisor for Habitat for Humanity, Megan spent her first post-college year building homes. She proved her versatility through yet another avenue for its exercise, learning the basics of carpentry and picking up on-the-job experience in community development. Her interests expanded to embrace farming – and she flourished in the fatiguing but satisfying environment of vegetable and flower growing on farms throughout the Piedmont region. Her work in this field eventually led her to apply for graduate study at UNC in the master’s degree program in city and regional planning. Her eventual thesis dealt with food-policy councils, sustainability and the community-farm movement – a subject with which she had become thoroughly acquainted when she enrolled in her program of study in the fall of 2007. Earning her degree in May 2009, Megan began her career working as a project coordinator for the National Center for Safe Routes to School and the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center, departments within UNC’s Highway Safety Research Center.
Fighting her cancer courageously in the face of daunting prognoses and diminishing physical reserves, Megan found the strength, and drew upon her intense will, to join with Eric Simpson Moe in marriage at her parents’ home in Middletown, R.I., on October 9, 2010. This day of great joy, perfect harmony and love will glow in the memory of all who shared it with her and Eric.
A memorial service for Megan is planned for November 27 at 2:00 p.m. in Gerrard Hall, on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Persons wishing to honor her can make memorial gifts in honor of Megan Cornog online at medicalfoundationofnc.org/linebergercancerctr/personal_gift.html or by mailing contributions to the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, CB #7295, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7295.
Notes of condolence may be sent to Megan’s husband, Eric Moe, at 400 Davie Road, Apt 7, Carrboro, NC 27510, and to her parents, Gary and Eleanor, at St. George’s School, PO Box 1910, Newport, RI 02840.
I was acquainted with Megan Cornog only through her thesis on Food Policy Councils. It, along with Ken Dahlberg’s work, helped to frame our food policy council initiative here in the Mahoning Valley in Ohio. I am very sorry that she is no longer with us. My condolences to her husband and parents.