Annual Letters

2025 Annual Letter — Alex gave birth to Dean Eratosthenes Maurer on March 24th. Caleb is adjusting to preschool and being a big brother. Inga and Styopa (Leon and Genya’s kids) are taller and stronger and changed to a different Russian daycare. Rose (college friend) and I spent a week in Paris frequenting museums and devouring patisserie. Kendal wrings its hands at the state of the nation, debates strategy, and protests.

2024 Annual Letter — Inga and Styopa (Leon and Genya’s children) and Caleb (Aaron and Alex’s child) are a year older and have all kinds of things to say. Styopa’s kidneys are working better; he’s weaned from Eculizumab. Aaron and Alex are expecting a little boy in March.

2023 Annual Letter — Inga, Leon and Genya’s 3 year old daughter continues very opinionated. Stepan, their son, is 1 year old, walking, and into everything. He developed aHUS, a very rare kidney disease, fortunately treatable. Caleb, Aaron and Alex’s son, is also walking, inquisitive and determined.

2022 Annual Letter — Styopa (diminutive for Stepan) born to Leon and Genya, Fran’s Mom dies, Caleb born to Alex and Aaron.

2021 Annual Letter — Steve’s Parkinson’s worsens over the year, he develops aspiration pneumonia and dies in August. Fran, Leon and Genya, Aaron and Alex adapt to life without him.

2020 Annual Letter — Steve gets right hip replacement, has a series of falls (orthostatic hypotension), gets COVID, moves into skilled nursing section of Kendal. Genya, in Russia for work, gets back to US on one of the last flights before pandemic lockdown. Inga born to Genya & Leon on Halloween.

2019 Annual Letter — Steve falls and breaks his right acetabulum (the socket that holds the femur), rehabbing at Kendal (a Quaker CCRC). Fran & Steve sell 206 Benj West & move into a Kendal cottage, so from 2,200 sf to 909 sf, with the help of a realtor, move coordinator, and an army of work-people.

2018 Annual Letter — Aaron & Alex’s wedding (in the midst of an East Coast bomb-cyclone), Leon & Genya’s daughter is stillborn, Fran developes an aggressive neuro-endocrine tumor, has chemo & radiation. Chester Community Coalition gets violence prevention grants. Fran’s trip to Israel with Rose.

2017 Annual Letter — Steve has deep brain stimulation surgery & retires, Leon & Genya marry and are expecting a daughter, Aaron and Alex get engaged. Steve and Fran investigate continuing-care retirement communities (CCRC’s), start downsizing and house-repairs.

2015-2016 Annual Letter — Steve’s Parkinson’s worsens, Fran retires and joins Chester Community Coalition (an anti-gun-violence group), Leon defends his Diss., Aaron gets his Masters & joins AirBnB

2014 Annual Letter — Steve becomes Exec Director of MathPath, we meet Genya, Leon’s girlfriend, Aaron starts a Masters in Statistics at U Chicago. Camel Crickets.

2013 Annual Letter — Steve sets retirement date, Fran works longer hours, Mom’s 90th, Thanksgivukkah

2012 Annual Letter — Steve diagnosed with Parkinson’s, on leave in Germany, Aaron works on health care policy in SF, Leon passes prelims. Roots trip to Ukraine & Poland. Fran meets Aaron’s Alex.

2011 Annual Letter — Steve on leave, Fran & Steve in Lake District & Cotswolds, Aaron graduates & starts work in SF, Leon switches to physics theory

2010 Annual Letter — Fran’s co. bought by MetLife, Steve & Fran in Spain, Leon deep in physics, Aaron gets a concussion & contemplates life after college

2009 Annual Letter — Steve deep in Chairship & MathPath, Fran deep in experience studies, Aaron does math & Byzantine history, Leon deep in physics

2008 Annual Letter — Fran caught in the fall of AIG, Steve deep in Chairship, Leon will do physics at U WI

2007 Annual Letter — Steve on leave in Berlin, Aaron starts at Carleton, Leon applies to grad school in physics

2006 Annual Letter — Fran nags Aaron about college essay and frets no one will want her child.

2005 Annual Letter — Leon interns at American Enterprise Inst, Steve continues as Dept Chair, Aaron starts football

2004 Annual Letter — Leon starts at Dartmouth, Steve is Dept Chair and returns to MathPath in the summer

2003 Annual Letter — Leon college search, Steve on Leave, travels in the 4 corners

2002 Annual Letter — Aaron’s Bar Mitzvah, Steve teaches at MathPath, Leon bikes 1,000 mi from MA to Nova Scotia

2001 Annual Letter — Leon & Aaron at Boy Scout Jamboree, Leon & Robotics, travels in the west of England

2000 Annual Letter — Steve becomes Assoc Provost for IT, Fran starts at AIG, travels in France & Netherlands

1999 Annual Letter — Leon’s Bar Mitzvah; travels in Belgium & Germany

1998 Annual Letter — White-water rafting, Leon joins annual letter

1997 Annual Letter — Steve’s Dad dies

1996 Annual Letter — Steve’s Mom dies

1995 Annual Letter — Steve’s major professor died; his Mom has meningioma

1994 Annual Letter — Steve has appendicitis, carcinoid tumor, hemicolectomy

1993 Annual Letter — Academic intrigue at the math dept; Steve reads about Hannibal at Cannae

1992 Annual Letter — Leon and Aaron well; Steve and Fran still married at 10 years

1991 Annual Letter — Leon very ill

1990 Annual Letter — Aaron starts at day care; Fran finishes exams; Discrete Algorithmic Math published.

1989 Annual Letter — Aaron 8 mo old

1988 Annual Letter — Leon starts at day care; pregnant with Aaron

1987 Annual Letter — Leon as a toddler, Lucy becomes MD State Treasurer

1986 Annual Letter — Leon 8 mo old; Steve gives his Rambler to Ely

1985 Annual Letter — Pregnant w/ Leon

1984 Annual Letter — Settling into new roles in Swarthmore

1983 Annual Letter — Jointly, from Steve & Fran

1982 Annual Letter — (from Fran)

1982 Annual Letter — Sloan Foundation & Steve gets married

1981 Annual Letter — High School Contest, Sloan Foundation, Attack with a baseball bat

1980 Annual Letter — Cockroaches in Swarthmore; Girlfriend

1979 Annual Letter — Move to Swarthmore

1978 Annual Letter — Coordinating Linear Alg & Multivar Calc at Princeton, National HS Math Exam

1977 Annual Letter — 45 day, cross-country trip

1976 Annual Letter — still at Princeton, summer at Hampshire College

1975 Annual Letter — travel to England & Big Bend

1974 Annual Letter — Back in Princeton

1973 Annual Letter — from Waterloo, Canada