Mary Jane Rathbun (22 December 1923, Minneapolis, Minnesota - 10 April 1999, Forest Hill, San Francisco, California), popularly known as Brownie Mary, was an American hospital volunteer who became internationally known as a medical cannabis activist. Brownie Mary was famous for baking and distributing "Alice B. Toklas brownies" and volunteering in the AIDS ward of San Francisco General Hospital.[1] She was active in efforts to legalize cannabis use for people with AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and other diseases,[2] helped Dennis Peron establish the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club, and worked on Proposition P and California Proposition 215.
In 1986, SFGH's Ward 86 honored Brownie Mary with a "Volunteer of The Year" award. In 1992, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors declared August 25 "Brownie Mary Day".[2] She was named a "Living Saint" in 1994 at the San Francisco Saints Alive Benefit. In 1997 the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence dubbed her "Saint Brownie Fucking Mary" at Mary's request as she was a lifelong atheist. Mary was also included in the Sisters' Nuns of the Above AIDS Memorial Quilt for her work with and advocating for people with AIDS.
Brownie Mary died of a heart attack at a Laguna Honda nursing home for the poor at age 77.
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