LAUREL F. APPEL

LAUREL F. APPEL, adjunct associate professor of biology, died Mar. 4, 2013, at age 50. A graduate of Oberlin College, she received a PhD in genetics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1993, when she moved to Connecticut. At Wesleyan, she also directed the Ronald E. McNair Program, which supports and nurtures first-generation college students and students in underrepresented groups for entry into graduate programs. She is survived by her husband, Wesleyan Professor of Biology Michael Weir, two children, her mother, two brothers, and three nieces and nephews. Her father died on April 19, 2013, six weeks after his daughter.