In a series of reflections, friends and colleagues spoke about Maurer, reminiscing on the swimming champion’s passion for her career and community at Princeton.
Kellie Staples, the associate director of athletics of the Princeton Varsity Club, explained that over time she and Maurer moved from being just colleagues to “friends and confidants, who also happened to be coworkers.”
“I knew that no matter what I was going through or she was going through, we could talk about it,” Staples said, fighting back tears. “Lorin gave me my Princeton family.”
Maurer was not afraid to go out and get what she wanted, Staples added. “She did not want to wait around for things to happen. She made things happen.”
Maurer, who turned 30 last December, was the athletic friends group manager for the Department of Athletics and the Office of Development. In 2005, she arrived at the University to fill the newly created position, which involved fundraising and working with student athletes and alumni.
Treby Williams, an executive director in the Office of the Executive Vice President, explained Maurer’s role in the success of the athletic friends programs, noting that “she created new ways for athletes and alumni to connect.”
Calling Maurer a “bundle of focused energy,” Williams explained that Maurer always arrived at meetings on time, often with her hair still wet from a workout she managed to squeeze in.
Though Williams said that she was supposed to be Maurer’s mentor, she added that it was Maurer who “inspired” her.
Williams also described the positive impact Maurer had on the University community, saying that she brought treats to the office and often interacted with children at athletic events.
“Lorin made Princeton a better place, and we loved her,” Williams said.
Rob Allen, Maurer’s roommate and an associate director of leadership gifts in the Office of Development, explained that Maurer had a positive influence on his life, even when she was just urging him to go to the gym.
“It was always in my best interest to do what Lorin wanted me to do,” he said jokingly, adding that Maurer was “a force to be reckoned with.”
“Lorin was a doer. No task was too big or too small,” he said. “Our Lorin was nothing if not efficient.”
Maurer had a vast network of friends, Allen added, adding that the Florida Gators fan kept in touch with people from all stages in her life.
“Once you were a part of Lorin’s world, you were always a part of her world,” he explained.
At the end of the service, Kevin Kuwik, Maurer’s boyfriend, addressed the crowd.
“Somehow, someway, my faith in God, my faith in you and your spirit … for all the people here and not here that you touched, that you gave so selflessly of yourself to, Lorin … I know that you’re going make sure, for each and everyone one of us, that the best is yet to come,” Kuwik said. “We love you.”
Kuwik recalled taking Maurer to meet his parents and described his father’s reaction. “Kevin, don’t let this one go,” his father said.
Kuwik, the director of basketball operations at Butler University, told those gathered that he had purchased all of the purple ties at a midwestern JoS. A. Bank Clothiers, as purple was Maurer’s favorite color. Maurer’s immediate family members also wore purple ribbons bearing her photo at the service.
Maurer was on her way to her boyfriend’s brother’s wedding when her plane crashed in a Buffalo suburb six miles from the city’s airport.
The plane, which departed from Newark, N.J., carried 44 passengers, a four crew members and an off-duty airline employee. Everyone on board and one person on the ground were killed.
Maurer graduated from Rowan University in 2001 with a degree in health and exercise science. While serving as captain of the school’s swim team, she was named Most Valuable Swimmer four times and was a three-time Academic All-American in women’s swimming. She also made the dean’s list and won the Athletic Director’s Award for academic excellence.
She later earned a master’s degree in sports management at the University of Florida and worked at the Mountain West Conference marketing department during the 2004-05 season.
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