Heather J. Trumbower ’87

Trailblazer, scientist, musician, and dog whisperer, Heather died May 1, 2024, in California. After long mental health struggles, she took her own life.
Born in 1965 in New York City, she was adopted as an infant and raised in New Jersey. Skipping a grade, Heather wrote software at Bell Labs at 16. She started with the Class of 1986 studying EECS, ultimately joining our class. She left early and earned her B.S. at UC Santa Cruz in 1991. Joining Netscape, Heather helped develop the first internet browser. 
In her late 20s, Heather sought her biological family. Curious about genetics, she earned a bioinformatics certificate. Genetics became her career, working on the Human Genome Project and startups Navigenics and Invitae. Heather played a key role on the genetics of the SARS-1 virus. Most importantly, Heather found her birth family. 
Heather married her great love, university professor Jules Balén. They joined several choruses, both gay and straight. Heather also played the flute. 
In addition to Jules, Heather is survived by her adoptive clan: Corrin and Terry Kovalcik, Duane and Annie Jacobsen, and Allison Grillo; her biological family: Mercury, Sara, Alyssa, Sebastian, Stephen and his husband Andy; and her “step” kids, Rain and Reiko.