Dr. Ralph Gerald Maurer

Dr. Ralph Gerald Maurer - Gainesville, FL- Dr. Ralph Gerald Maurer of Gainesville, Florida, a 26-year faculty member at the University of Florida College of Medicine, died Friday. He was 62. Dr. Maurer was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, and grew up in Littlefield, Texas. He was graduated from The Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College, and the Yale Medical School. He completed an internship at Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, as well as residencies in general psychiatry and in child psychiatry at the Stanford University Medical School. During the Vietnam War, he served as a major in the Medical Corps, United States Air Force Reserve, at the School of Aerospace Medicine in San Antonio, Texas. He was a member of the faculty at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, and for the last 26 years, at the University of Florida, College of Medicine. At the University of Florida he was an associate professor of psychiatry and Director of the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities. In addition, he served for many years on boards of the Autism Society of America, the Florida Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, the UF Health Center Institutional Review Board, the Autism National Committee, and the Alachua County Bicycle Board. He was known internationally for his work in autism and developmental disabilities. He was a member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. Dr. Maurer is survived by his wife, Virginia Gallaher Maurer of Gainesville; two sons, Ralph Emmett Maurer of Palo Alto, California, and William Edward Maurer of Gainesville; his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Ralph Elmer Maurer of Littlefield, Texas; two brothers, Robert Tweedy Maurer of Dallas, Texas, and Richard Samuel Maurer of Holden, Massachusetts; two sisters, Rachel Eva Maurer of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Virginia Maryon Maurer of Exeter, New Hampshire; a daughter-in-law, Margaret Butler Maurer of Palo Alto, formerly of Savannah; and four nephews, a sister-in-law, and a brother-in-law. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Dr. Maurer's memory to the University of Florida Foundation for the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, PO Box 117150, Gainesville, FL 32611-7150. Funeral services for Dr. Maurer will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 20, at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Gainesville. Burial will take place in Holy Trinity Memorial Garden. Williams Thomas Funeral Home, Gainesville Savannah Morning News May 16, 2006 Please sign our Obituary Guest Book at www.savannahnow.com