Margaret Mead · Barack Obama Were Margaret Mead and Barack Obama alive at the same time? Yes. Margaret Mead and Barack Obama were alive at the same time for 17 years, from 1961 to 1978. Margaret Mead was 59 when Barack Obama was born.Barack Obama was 17 when Margaret Mead died, aged 76. Margaret MeadAmerican anthropologistBorn 16 December 1901 · died 15 November 1978, aged 76Barack Obama44th President of the United StatesBorn 4 August 1961 · living, 65 as of September 2026 Albert EinsteinAdolf HitlerMargaret MeadRonald ReaganNelson MandelaDonald TrumpVladimir PutinMichael JacksonBarack Obama Margaret Mead and Barack Obama in bold, with some of their best-known contemporaries. Drag across to see the age each reached in any year. Faded ends mark uncertain dates.