Elizabeth Meyer

Her parents were medical doctors, a psychiatrist and an epidemiologist.^[1] Her grandfather was Eugene Meyer, investment banker and first president of the World Bank.^[1] He also owned The Washington Post publishing company. Her grandmother was Agnes Ernst Meyer, social activist and journalist. Elizabeth's aunt was Katharine Graham, owner of The Washington Post during Watergate.^[1] Meyer attended a Quaker Friends Academy^[1] and Bennington College in Vermont where she studied English. For a time she worked at sail making, also volunteering at a zoo and running a restaurant before starting a building restoration company in 1977.^[2] She published Yaahting, a parody of the magazine Yachting. She also wrote for Nautical Quarterly.^[1]

She is married to Michael McCaffrey.^[1]

In 1984 she purchased the J class yacht Endeavour and began the restoration.^[2] She was also instrumental in the restoration of Shamrock V.^[2] She founded the International Yacht Restoration School in 1993.^[3] For her efforts in building and yacht restoration she received the president's award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.^[2] In 2011 she received the Don Turner Award from the USS Constitution Museum^[4] for her work in maritime preservation. From 1975 to 1993 she owned the Concordia yawl, Matinicus and has authored books on the Ray Hunt designed class.^[3] She now sails Seminole, a 1916 Lawley-built 47 ft (14.3m) gaff yawl, bought in 1996. She completed its restoration in 2005^[3]