Marilynne Eichinger has been an active supporter of hands-on learning throughout her career as a science museum director. After graduating magna-cum-laude from Boston University with an emphasis in anthropology, she went on to receive a master’s degree in psychology from Michigan State University. In 1972, Marilynne founded Impression 5 Science Museum in Lansing, Michigan, to share the wonders of science through interactive exhibits.
After operating Impression 5 for thirteen years, she left to become president of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, one of the nation’s oldest and most renowned science centers. There, she spearheaded the construction of a 250,000 sq. ft. facility and exhibit workshop on the Willamette River in Portland. She acquired a submarine from the Navy, built a new planetarium, and installed a large format theater. Marilynne expanded a traveling exhibit service by developing displays that traveled internationally. As a director, oversaw science classes, camps, and education programs serving a five-state region.
Marilynne’s concern for education led her to move to her next venture. In 1995. with the backing of 22 national museums and private investors, she launched the Museum Tour Catalog to provide hands-on investigative materials to households nationwide. After eighteen years, her business sold, giving her time to write, paint, and spend with her five children, eight grandchildren, and adopted families. Marilynne is a prolific painter, blogger, and adventure traveler. She is the author of two non-fiction books, Lives of Museum Junkies, giving a behind-the-scenes look at science centers, and Over the Peanut Fence, about youth homelessness.
The book about homeless adolescents was inspired by Zach, a twenty-year-old homeless boy who passed in front of her car. He was ill and needed nursing, so she and her partner invited him to live in their home for a week. He stayed for five years. His story initiated a five-year struggle to help him thrive and years of research into the fate of disadvantaged, homeless youth. Her latest publication, The Water Factor, is the first of the Rightfully Mine Novels about corporate crime. It is an eco-thriller that moves from Ethiopia to a Native American reservation in Oregon's high desert. The Water Factor is a 2024 winner of a Firebird International Award for best Dystopian Novel and a Literary Gold Award for best thriller.
