Laurel Appel, Durham Resident and Wesleyan Professor, Passes at Age 50

Laurel F. Appel, Ph.D., of Durham, adjunct associate professor of biology at Wesleyan University, died Monday, March 4, 2013, at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown. She was 50.

She is survived by her husband Michael P. Weir, her daughter Rebecca L. Weir, and her son Nathaniel J. Weir. She is also survived by her parents, Kenneth and Carole Appel of Dover, NH; her brothers, Andrew W. Appel and his wife, Maia Ginsburg of Princeton, NJ, and Peter H. Appel and his wife, Barbara Zamora-Appel of Alexandria, VA, her nephews, Avi Appel and Joseph Appel, and her niece, Carmen Appel.

Laurel Frances Appel was born July 13, 1962, in Princeton, NJ, and grew up in Urbana, IL. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1984 and received a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1993, when she moved to Connecticut. She married Michael Weir in 1993. At Wesleyan, she directed the Ronald E. McNair Program, which supports and nurtures first-generation college students and students in underrepresented groups for entry into graduate programs. 

A celebration of Laurel's life will take place Friday, March 8, at 3 p.m. at the Chapel at Wesleyan University, High Street, Middletown. Messages of condolence may be sent to the family at www.doolittlefuneralservice.com.