Martha Derthick, one of the most distinguished scholars and incisive commentators on American federalism and a life-long mentor to many in the discipline, died on January 12, 2015 in Charlottesville, Virginia, following a brief illness. Born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, in 1933, Martha graduated from Hiram College, working as a reporter and editor for the Chagrin Valley Herald in the summer during her college years, and earned a doctorate in political science at Radcliffe College in 1962. She taught at Harvard University and Boston College before serving as senior fellow in governmental studies and then as director of governmental studies at the Brookings Institution, a position she held from 1978 to 1983. She was the Julia Allen Cooper professor of government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia from 1983 to 1999. Martha’s scholarship is virtually unparalleled in the impressive range of topics she examined. In taking stock of her 11 books in a tribute in the September/October 2010 issue of the Public Administration Review, Tim Conlan wrote, “The subjects of her research have been immensely varied. Her many books have focused on federal welfare grants, the National Guard, the implementation of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s New Towns program, multistate regionalism, federal social service grants, the Social Security Administration, the politics of deregulation, and the politics of regulating tobacco. Each has generated fresh and original insights into different aspects of the policy process, from administrative behavior and legislative politics to institutional evolution” (p. 811).