That generosity and care continue today through Claudia, through their three boys, and through the families we have all raised—now close friends and cousins to my own children. I’m deeply grateful for all of them.

During my extended college years, they became something more, often stepping in as mentors and, at times, as second parents—sharing their home, their knowledge of life, and their commitment to education and others.

Before college, they were models of generous, caring, and inspired older siblings: very young themselves, Bill a history professor and Claudia a pediatrician, who welcomed me, guided me, and treated me as a beloved younger brother.