Chris Maher, 55 years, passed suddenly Sunday of respiratory failure at home.

He was born in Holyoke, MA and attended schools on the east coast. He graduated from Williston-Northampton School in Easthampton, MA. He also attended Amherst College in Amherst, MA. He graduated from Yale University in New Haven, CT. It was then he made his home in California. He gained his Masters Degree from Mills College in Oakland, CA.

A lifelong learner, Chris had many talents in languages, music, and the arts. After his post graduate experiences, he worked for a hotel as a translator in San Francisco for a number of years. He relocated to Los Angeles and has made him home there for the last 20 plus years. He has been active in the arts.

Chris was predeceased by his mother, Mary T. Maher in 1997. His father, Richard J,. Maher died in 2004. He leaves his sisters, Maureen Cotter (Mike), Eileen Maher (Mark LaFrancis), and brother, Richard F. Maher (Liza). He also leaves five nieces: Laura O’Brien, Elizabeth Barsalou, Carolyn Cotter, Grace Maher, and Mary LaFrancis) and three nephews (Christopher Cotter, Dylan Maher, and Mark LaFrancis), and two grandnieces Abby and Caitlin O’Brien), whom he loved very much, to remember him. He has two dear friends in Los Angeles, David Douglas and Stephen Rau who have cared for him. Chris also leaves Nick Jordan who remembers him respectfully.