Alexander B. Maish ’77

Alex died March 11, 2005. He had struggled with cystic fibrosis his entire life. His twin brother, Fred, also a classmate, died in 1990.

Alex and Fred grew up in Arlington, Va., where Alex was high-school valedictorian. After Princeton, Alex earned a master's from the University of Virginia and worked at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico for 25 years, specializing in photovoltaics and robotics. He was widely published in those fields. But a quick search shows that, among other things, he had also been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The opening clause in his response to a major article on cystic fibrosis in 2001 was unusual and distinctive for a scholarly publication like JAMA: "As a 46-year-old with CF awaiting a lung transplant . . . "

Classmates who kept in touch with Alex over the years know how, despite the debilitating effects of CF, he enjoyed backpacking, skiing, and sailing.

He is survived by his son, Benjamin; his parents, Col. and Mrs. Alexander M. Maish; and his sister, Darby Maish Woolley. The class offers its deepest sympathy.

The Class of 1977