Personal

Disability

I had a severe stroke following brain surgery to treat a giant fusiform brain aneurysm in 1996.  I am able to walk with a walker, but more often I use a wheelchair.  The stroke also affected my speech. 

In addition to the physical disabilities, a consequence of my brain injury that afflicts me is Pseudobulbar Affect (Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic), a neurologic disorder that is associated with becoming emotional easily and with exaggerated emotional responses.   Basically I openly cry, laugh, and get frustrated very easily. As I like to tell my students, I do not tell jokes in class because I start laughing before I get to the punchline. 

Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School

I am a member of the advisory board of the Andover Newton Seminary at Yale, which was formally the oldest graduate school seminary in the country, and which completed a merger with the Yale Divinity School in 2023. 

Family

I am married to Kathryn Spier, the Domenico de Sole Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.  We have one son, James (or Jamie), who graduated from Harvard University and from Tufts University with a masters in data science.