Martha Jacqueline Enthoven

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Martha Jacqueline Enthoven, age 59, on June 2, 2026. She died peacefully at home in Chevy Chase, Maryland after a valiant 11-month struggle with pancreatic cancer.

Martha lived a life rich in love, family, friendship, travel, curiosity, and conversations about the endless array of things that struck her fancy. She was a beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, and aunt—and a dear and inspiring friend to many.

Martha was born in Washington, DC on July 29, 1966 to Rosemary (Fenech) and Alain Charles Enthoven. She subsequently moved with her family to Santa Monica and then to Atherton, California in 1973, where she spent her formative years in a bustling family home on McCormick Lane. She attended Menlo-Atherton High School with the class of 1984 before studying her senior year at Northfield Mount Hermon in Gill, Massachusetts.

After taking a gap year to work on an archaeological dig at Capernaum, Israel, Martha matriculated at the University of California, Berkeley. She subsequently transferred to Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where she graduated from the School of Foreign Service in 1989. In the years to come, Martha would exercise formidable organizational, motivational, and diplomatic skills, early on as a manager for EF (Education First), a global cultural exchange company, and more recently as a life coach.

While at Georgetown, Martha spent her junior year abroad in the United Kingdom studying at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. This was the same college where her paternal grandmother and namesake, Jacqueline, had served as a French lectrice in the 1920s—and where she met Martha's grandfather, Richard Enthoven, who was then a student at New College.

Six decades later, in a reprise of her grandparents’ serendipitous connection, it was while studying politics in an Oxford library that Martha met her husband, Daniel Diehl Stid, then a graduate student in the subject. Martha and Daniel married in Atherton on July 14, 1990. In their 35 years together, they raised four children: Noah and Sophia (age 33), Charlotte (26), and Isabelle (22).

Motherhood was Martha’s most profound calling. She nurtured the unique qualities and dispositions of the four children she cared for so dearly with endless patience, good humor, disarming candor, and—above all else—unconditional love. Whether the family was living in Crawfordsville, Indiana, or Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Martha led her household on one grand adventure after another. Her zest for life is reflected in wonderfully different ways in each of her children, and her spirit will live on through them.

In addition to her immediate family, Martha is survived by her parents Alain and Rosemary, her sister Eleanor (William) Hasse, her brothers Andrew (Glory), Nick (Ann) and Dan (Elizabeth) Enthoven, and her sister-in-law Tucker Enthoven. She is preceded in death by her brother Richard.

Martha’s deep and abiding connections to her parents and siblings were something to behold. For Martha and Daniel alike, Alain and Rosemary have always been not only wonderful friends but also inspiring exemplars of how to flourish as a married couple while rearing a large family. And Martha never had more fun than when she and her siblings and their boisterous families were eating and drinking, laughing, skiing, boating, or road-tripping together.

Martha had another wonderful gift, that of friendship. She leaves behind dear friends and deep connections with extended family members all across the country and indeed around the world. All the conversations, sojourns, and companionship she shared with them—and the attentive care she provided when they most needed help—will remain a lasting part of her legacy.

There will be two memorial services for Martha to enable family and friends in different parts of the country to pay their respects.

A memorial service followed by a reception will be held at 2 pm on Friday, June 26, 2026 at New Community Church, 1100 Middle Avenue, Menlo Park, California, 94025.

A memorial service followed by a reception will be held at 2 pm on Friday, July 10, 2026 at the Chevy Chase Club, 6100 Connecticut Avenue, Chevy Chase, Maryland, 20815.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Martha’s memory to Mainsprings, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that strives “to end generational poverty in rural Tanzania by providing children and families with transformative education, training in restorative agriculture, and caring support.” Martha was a longtime supporter and an on-the-ground volunteer for this organization (see link below).