Scott B. Meacham

Dec 21, 1972 -

Jan 10, 2023

Scott Blackford Meacham, 50, died on Jan. 10, 2023, after a valiant 15-month battle against pancreatic cancer. Born at Anchorage Community Hospital on the winter solstice in 1972, Scott was the son of Thomas and Jane Camden Meacham, and older brother to Brian. Scott grew up in South Addition on H Street, and attended Anchorage Cooperative Preschool and the Chugach Elementary Optional Program. In 1981, the family moved to the Hillside where Scott attended Abbott Loop Elementary Optional, Hanshew Jr. High and Service High School. class of 1991. Scott loved cross-country skiing in Junior Nordic and on school teams in the fifth through12th grades. He played trumpet in the band in the fifth through 11th grades, highlighted by a 1989 band trip to the Pacific Basin Band Festival in Honolulu, Hawaii. Scott enjoyed hiking and backpacking in Chugach State Park, including summer and winter solstice overnights on Flattop, and several trips to Williwaw Lakes with family and friends. Scott sometimes brought along a novel to read in the sun, on the ridge line overlooking Long Lake and the North Fork of Campbell Creek.

Scott spent his high school summer of 1990 in Iceland, and later college terms in Mainz, Germany, and Oxford, England. Scott graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., with a BA in English, cum laude, in 1995; earned a Masters in architectural history from University of Virginia in 1998), and was awarded a Juris Doctor in law from UVA in 2004. In summer 2003, Scott was a law clerk with the Anchorage firm of Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot. Scott moved to Virginia in 1996, and married his beloved wife Sarah there in 2000. They lived first in Charlottesville, Va., where, in 2008, their daughter Camden was born. Later in 2008, they settled in Richmond, Va., where Scott worked as a legislative attorney, staffing the natural resources committees of the Virginia General Assembly. Scott authored the definitive book on Dartmouth College's architectural history, The Campus Guide to Dartmouth College: An Architectural Tour (Princeton Architectural Press, 2008).

Scott was unfailingly calm, curious, witty and knowledgeable. He loved returning to Alaska when he could; one of his fondest memories was the sight of their daughter Camden, then 11 years old, wearing a shaggy knit horse hat and braving the rough waters of Kachemak Bay at the bow of the Danny J, on a windy journey from Halibut Cove to Homer.

Scott is survived by his wife, Sarah; daughter, Camden; parents, Tom and Jane Meacham of Anchorage, Alaska; younger brother, Brian and wife Aimee of Woodbridge, Conn.; aunt, Barb Christofferson of Cheyenne, Wyo.; parents-in-law, Michael and Jo-Anne Hand of Williamsburg, Va.; brother-in-law, Todd Hand and wife Christine of Brookfield, Conn.; and numerous loving cousins, nieces and nephews. A service celebrating Scott's life was held in Richmond on Jan. 14, 2023. Scott's ashes will be interred at the historic Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, and a portion will be scattered in Chugach State Park next summer.

Contributions in memory of Scott's life may be made to Trailside Discovery Camp, akcentereducationalfund.org; or Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, pancan.org.