Personal Data

Here is picture of me. I was born in 1959 in New York, and grew up in a northern suburb of New York City named Pleasantville. After my college years in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I worked as a polymer chemist for the General Electric Research and Development Center, but discovered that a life of inhaling chemical fumes and cleaning glassware was not for me, so I went back to school at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst to study computers.

As I neared the end of my graduate studies, I also neared the end of my days as a bachelor, proposing to my wife, Mary, while we were cycling around Scotland in the fall of 1987. We married in 1988. Daughter Emily arrived in 1989, and son David in 1991.

When not working, I try to spend as much time as I can with my family (around my wife's schedule - she is an internal medicine physician), which these days tends to mean shuttling kids to various activities, coaching soccer, etc. My principal hobby otherwise is playing the trombone, which I did in high school and college but then put down for about 15 years. Sometimes I even play in public! I also enjoy bicycle riding, sailing, and skiing.

If you want to track the recent history of my family, the most comprehensive synopsi are given in our annual holiday letters:

• 1988
• 1989
• 1990
• 1991
• 1992
• 1993
• 1994
• 1995
• 1996
• 1997
• 1998
• 1999
• 2000
• 2001
• 2002