ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WHCU) – An architect of culture and economics in the Finger Lakes has passed away.

Credit: Clarkson University

Mary Plane, the former program director of Cornell’s Willard Straight Hall student union, died earlier this month in Albuquerque after a brief illness.

Plane, along with her husband, Robert, a former professor of chemistry and Provost at Cornell, opened Plane’s Cayuga Vineyards in Ovid in 1972.

The pair both participated in research at Cornell Agri-Tech in Geneva to develop varieties of grapes that tolerate colder winters.

In 1983, Plane conceived and co-founded the Finger Lakes Wine Trail, which was the first wine trail in the country.

Mary Plane was 96 years old.