Susan Fera Assmann, 63, lost her courageous battle with cancer on Saturday, May 30, 2020, at home. She was born in Princeton, New Jersey, the daughter of the late Frederick and Mary Assmann. She is survived by her husband and soulmate of almost 32 years, Jeffrey Del Papa of Waltham, Massachusetts; her sister, Sarah Assmann of State College, Pennsylvania; her brother-in-law, Charles Rury; her nephew, Michael Rury; her mother-in-law, Gloria; other in-laws (brother, sister, and spouses), Cindy, Daniel, Ken, Johan, Laura; and three additional nephews.
Susan was the class of 1974 valedictorian at Hopewell Valley Central High School in Pennington, New Jersey. She graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1978 and earned a PhD in mathematics (combinatorics) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983 and an MS in biostatistics from the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health, Amherst in 1994. She has an Erdös number of two.
Susan was a principal statistician at HealthCore (formerly New England Research Institute) in Watertown, Massachusetts, where she worked for a week shy of 26 years, following a career as a mathematics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts. Susan was the co-author of more than 60 scientific publications, and her statistical analyses of data from clinical trials will aid many patients. She took a particular interest in research in the fields of transfusion medicine and hematology.
Susan was an avid reader, a student of the English art of change ringing, an enthusiastic amateur harpsichordist, and an ardent supporter of the early music community in Boston. Memorial contributions can be made to the Society for Historically Informed Performance or to cancer research at Dana Farber. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Condolences may also be made online.
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