In Memoriam: Mary Anne Schulz (1938-2022)

October 3, 2022

Mary Anne Schulz passed away September 29, 2022 at her home. She was born January 15, 1938 in New Haven, and lived her entire life in this city she loved. Mary Anne worked for Yale University at Wright Nuclear Structure Lab (WNSL, now Wright Lab) for 46 years, where she fortuitously met her husband Steve. Mary Anne loved her job at WNSL and cared deeply for the people she worked with.

Recollections

Peter Parker, professor Emeritus of physics and former director of WNSL, reflected , “Mary Anne and the Lab are nearly synonymous in my mind. She was there when I arrived in 1966. She was [D. Allan] Bromley’s right hand person; she knew everything about every non-physics aspect of the lab. She was also the ‘mother’ figure to many of the graduate students and junior faculty, offering sympathy and gentle advice. She never appeared flustered; ‘even’ is a good description of her temperament. She and I communicated as equals, acting as sounding boards for each other in regards to lab politics and personnel. She offered wise insights into personalities, and, despite her quiet demeanor, did not suffer fools lightly.”

Paula Farnsworth, senior administrative assistant at Wright Lab (and previously WNSL), said, “I wouldn’t be at Yale today if it weren’t for Mary Anne Schulz. She hired me from an outside temp agency to work for Dr. Bromley and Rick Casten while the regular office staff was away on her honeymoon. When the staff person returned, Mary Anne helped create a new position for me in the WNSL office because we worked so well together.”

Farnsworth added, “One of my fondest memories of Mary Anne was how, in 2005, she let me work remotely–before it was even really a thing–when my mother in Maryland was very sick. I was able to spend more time with her during those last few months as a result and little did I know was receiving pre-pandemic training at the same time!”

Frank Lopez, research development technician at Wright Lab and previously at WNSL, said, “Mary Anne was always very kind to me. Especially so during a very rough first year at the lab, [when I was] recovering from a broken leg. Mary Anne, along with the others in the Wright Lab office, made my wife and I feel welcomed into the WNSL family. I won’t forget her kind smiling eyes.”

The following is an excerpt from a book published to celebrate Yale milestones at the time she reached 45 years at Yale.

“Mary Anne has been a denizen of the Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory (WNSL) . . . for nearly all of her 45 years at Yale. Mary Anne was hired by the founder of WNSL, D. Allan Bromley, who went on to become science advisor for President George H.W. Bush. As Executive Assistant to the lab’s director, overseeing the daily operations of Yale’s accelerator facility for subatomic physics, Mary Anne has known several generations of the world’s leading nuclear scientists and many of the nation’s top political and policy leaders. She has impressed every one of them, as well as her colleagues, with her incredible sense of responsibility, organizational skill, friendly attitude (she likes everybody), sheer efficiency, and uncanny ability to ensure nothing ever falls through the cracks, from birthdays to deadlines.”