

Tribute Wall
Friday
23
July
MEMORIAL SERVICE
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Friday, July 23, 2021
The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home
40 Vandeventer Ave.
Princeton, New Jersey, United States
Loading...
A
Anton Arnold uploaded photo(s)
Wednesday, July 28, 2021

I am grateful that we could meet many times, in Vienna as well as at conferences from Oberwolfach to the US. My most intense memory is connected to a TMR-conference you organized in the Azores islands. While it was hard work for you, you allowed the participants to enjoy a stimulating workshop in a beautiful setting. I attach an unusual conference-group photo that reflects the pleasure of the participants (although it is not in high resolution).
Sao, your inspiring happiness and overwhelming smile will always be remembered.
Anton
J
Jose A. Carrillo uploaded photo(s)
Saturday, July 24, 2021

Jose Carrillo and Vito Roas
I met Sao for the first time in a conference in Transport Theory in 2003 in Rio de Janeiro having met Eric during my postdoc years in Austin in 2000. We discovered how many important things one can do while attending a scientific conference apart from attending talks and discussing about mathematics… Certainly friendships are forged in these occasions while having a Caipirinha by the seaside in Copacabana or having a good moqueca in an excellent restaurant or having the best coffee in a old cafeteria Eric and Sao found in their guide discussing about life, maths and political situation… My wife will always remember her as her salvation anchor from boredom while waiting for me from the scientific sessions. After several years Sao and Eric visited me in Barcelona for a month, it was a fantastic visit from which I have very good memories both scientifically and personally, we wrote a paper together, the 3 of us, being the only co-author that they could find to be in between them in alphabetic order. We had plenty of dinners together and exchange of useful information about Barcelona being Sao and Eric certified foodies.
We have continued meeting in many different conferences and occasions such as the long thematic term at Mittag-Leffler in 2016 or the Anacapri conference in 2017 from where I always keep their presence in good spirit. I am attaching a picture from a while back in Canada in Victoria Island on the occasion of a small gathering organized by Reinhard Illner in which we were together. Beautiful person, always cheerful and ready for indulging in good food/wine and interesting discussion, great collaborator. Sao will always be living in our memories.
All my condolences to Eric.
F
Francesco Salvarani posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
I am very saddened by São's passing. I met her for the first time in 2000 at the summer school she co-organized in Ponta Delgada. Then I had the chance to meet her and her husband Eric several times, in different countries: Portugal, Italy, Germany... She was a very intelligent and positive person, with a great inner strength. All my condolences to Eric.
Francesco
T
Teresa and Alfred Stadler posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
I remember the first day when we met and how intense your presence and smile were.
I remember how naturally you mixed deep discussions on social or science issues with delicious tips on holidays, exquisite dresses or design.
I learnt many things with you that will stay with me for ever.
Me and Alfred remember well your generosity and joy of living.
We thank you to let us use your home in a bitter-sweet moment of my life that you helped to re-build.
Teresa and Alfred
S
Sarah Vania posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
I am so grateful for the kindness, curiosity, and warmth that Sao shared with everyone who crossed her path. In my case, it was a little intimidating as a 'civilian' to marry a professor and enter the social circle of the academic community. Every time I had the great fortune to be at an event where Sao was also attending, she always made time for me and was so welcoming. Her beautiful spirit will never be extinguished in anyone who has known her. Shadi and I decided after the moving service this morning that we need to go on more picnics, and live more intentionally in the path of joy that she demonstrated throughout her life. Our heart goes out to you, Eric, and the extended family who loved her. We join your grief in solidarity.
S
Simon and Nebahat uploaded photo(s)
Friday, July 23, 2021



Some photos from two happy nights with Sao and Eric (in August & December 2019). We will miss Sao very much.
e
eharrell@gmail.com posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
There will always be a place in our hearts for São's memory, recalling her smile, her soft wit, and her friendship. It is hard to accept that she is gone and to comprehend your loss, Eric. Although we can't be there for the remembrance, we are there today in spirit, and we will be with you to help keep her memory alive in the future. Knowing her was a treasure.
With deep condolences,
Evans and Charity
M
Maria J. Esteban posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
I met Sao many years ago, and even if we never worked together, it was always a great pleasure to meet, and chat and laugh together. The last time I met her was some time before the Covid crisis, we were all of us, Sao, Eric and I, attending a program at the Mittag-Leffler Institute, and when i arrived, Sao and Eric were about to depart already; But we had time to share a nice lunch together, and Sao passed to me lots of good adresses for things to do in Stockholm that season, and places where to eat and drink well.
When I think about Sao there are two words that come to my mind immediatly : kindness and smiles. She was always the kindest person, so nice and pleasant to talk with. And her smile was always on her face, at least all the times I met her.
A big loss for Eric and her family, for mathematics, and for all of us.
E
Elisa Moniz posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
Amiga desde 1968,irmã de coração,fazes me uma falta imensa! SAUDADES
Como tu gostavas de dizer ,eu agradeço Estes 53 anos de AMIZADE com o
Teu Obrigadissima!
Beijinhos E até sempre
Elisa
P
Paula Contenças posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
São, a good friend. Unforgettable your smile, your taste for beautiful things, your pleasure in life, your talks, your availability to friends. Friend forever!
Paula Contenças
M
Maria Joao Oliveira posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
11 am in Princeton, 4 pm in Lisbon.
Dear São, from this side of the Atlantic we share this celebration of your life.
Your energy, strength, resilience and friendship will always be among us. A saudade também.
S
Suleyman posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
Once again we, Semra and me, are so saddened by the passing of Maria. On the other hand we remember the good times we shared together, from cooking together to having meals together and having interesting conversations...
Unfortunately, we are too far away to attend the service but we will always remember her...and we are sending our thoughts and prayers...
God bless her!
Eric, good luck to you in these hard times and you have our support all the times ahead.
Semra & Suleyman
L
Ludwig Streit posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
Dear Conceição,
so many happy memories among the old Bielefelders of your stay here as a PhD student, but what always comes to my mind is our very last, unexpected encounter at the entrance of the institute in Lisbon.
That radiant smile of yours will be with us all forever.
Ludwig Streit
L
Luís Sanchez Rodrigues posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
Conceição was a friendly colleague along many years at Faculdade de Ciências and at our research unit. The main traits I recall from her are professional competence, a strong interest in the scientific performance of the whole team and a permanent smile in her face, even when it was necessary to discuss difficult matters. Her untimely death represents a great loss not only for the family but also for her colleagues and for the mathematical activity in the University of Lisbon.
Luís Sanchez Rodrigues
G
Gianfausto Dell'Antonio posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
Gianfausto met Sao in Bielefeld, she was a young researcher full of ideas and with strong results.
We met the real Sao later, in the summer 1998 in Lisbon; we were on vacation and visited "the Carlens".
There we saw the real Sao, a wonderful young woman full of wit and life. We spent a memorable time together, they were perfect hosts.
We planned to see each other very often The ocean made this difficult but still we were able to meet several times , on either side, and always we had a good time together and we liked Sao even more.
Our last meeting was in November 2019, in a Persian restaurant in N.Y.C.. Sao was in NYC for a check-up.
We had a wonderful time, as usual. Sao was as brilliant, warm and witty as ever. When Sao and Eric had to leave to fetch a train back to Princenton we promised each other to meet again soon. This will not happen but we will keep in our eyes and in our hearts the images of a wonderful Sao.
Riposa in pace.
Simonetta and Gianfausto
A
Ana Jacinta Soares and Patrícia Gonçalves uploaded photo(s)
Friday, July 23, 2021



We are Ana Jacinta Soares and Patrícia Gonçalves, from Portugal, the colleagues of São, that have organized, with São, many editions of the PSPDE’s meeting (http://w3.math.uminho.pt/PSPDEix/).
Despite helping us a lot with the organization of this event, unfortunately, she is no longer here to enjoy it with us.
São was a delightful colleague, a wonderful personality, and an excellent mathematician. She has many co-authors, many citations, and many important articles in her research field, and she is (we guess!) the only Portuguese mathematician publishing in Acta Mathematica, one of the best journals in mathematics.
São brought many excellent researchers to the PSPDE’s meetings and was, perhaps, among us, in the organizing committee, the one more enthusiastic about the “meetings in Braga”.
Losing São was truly hard and she will be deeply missed by all of us.
We are sure that those of you that had the opportunity to meet São will remember her as an optimistic person, someone who appreciated being with friends and enjoying every moment of life.
J
Jorge Abreu posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
São was a sweet and lovely person.
She was a honest, intelligent and very professional teacher and investigator.
I had the pleasure and honor to be her friend.
I will always remember our dinners with Luis, some times also with Eric, our talks, our laughs and her unforgettable smile.
Nobody can image how painful was for me to understand that we’ll never meet again!
I won’t forget you, São, my dear, my sweet friend!
Jorge Abreu
W
Wilfrid Gangbo posted a condolence
Friday, July 23, 2021
My family and myself met Maria and Eric 26 years ago, after we moved to Atlanta, where they preceded us few years earlier. We visited each other very often, sharing dinners together, exchanging information about Atlanta. We were very fortunate to meet Maria's mother in their house in Lisbon, a mother who remained a very energetic woman despite the fact that she was in her eighties. I was also very happy when in 2010, Maria and Eric accepted our invitation to travel with us to Benin, my home country. This was a memorable trip and I wish we have done this more often.
The pain of loosing Maria will never disappear and will remain buried in our subconscious. We realize that Eric will feel a constant void in their house. Good memories of past trips will always bring sorrow when he travels, but thinking less about the past may be the only way to ease the pain.
Maria left us too soon and before we could share more happy moments. She will remain present in our memories and Eric has our support, during these difficult moments, and for the years to come.
our sincerest condolences
Gangbo's Family.
M
Michael Loss and Ute Fischer posted a condolence
Thursday, July 22, 2021
Sao's passing is a source of great sorrow for me and my wife, Ute. We have been friends with Sao, as she was called, for many years. When she and Eric lived in Atlanta we had many, many dinners together, and often spent the fall breaks and Thanksgiving holidays hiking in the Georgia Mountains.
Sao was a kind person with wide interests in the sciences and in the arts, and excellent taste in whatever she turned her attention to. One of our favorite memories of her are our visits in Lisbon that she organized for us. She was so happy to show us the city and the culture that she so much loved. These were truly memorable days!
Sao was also a colleague at Georgia Tech and a collaborator on numerous research projects. I very much enjoyed working with her and Eric and together we discovered a number of exciting mathematical results that give me pleasure to this day.
In addition to being a very good mathematician, she did much for the mathematical community, in particular by organizing conferences, the most exciting ones for me were those in Lisbon.
During the pandemic Ute and I had the good fortune to have a zoom dinner with Sao and Eric every Saturday. Until a few weeks ago we had lively discussions about politics, in the US and in Europe, and most of all about education, a topic dear to Sao.
We are grateful to have had her as a close friend and colleague, and we will miss her very much.
Michael and Ute
L
Luis Saraiva uploaded photo(s)
Thursday, July 22, 2021

My friendship with São is more than 35 years old. We met for the first time when she was a mathematics student at the Lisbon Faculty of Sciences, a very active member of the Students' Union in those troubled times of 1974 and 1975. São was always completely determined to do what she thought was right, no matter how many obstacles existed. She fought for many causes, some were won, some were lost, but for the ones that were lost the outcome was mostly due to the lack of commitment of some of her colleagues, mainly those in high places, who preferred most of the time the confort of doing nothing.
Together with Jorge Abreu, and sometimes with Eric, when he was in Portugal, we had regular dinners where we would talk for hours about all kinds of subjects, but mainly about our lives, about the then current political situation, either in Portugal or abroad, or about the years 1974/75 in Portugal, whose heartfelt memories are forever engraved in our hearts.
It is said that when one of our friends departs this life, something remains in us.
I think all of São's friends feel this.
A gentle hug to you, my dearest friend.
Luis Saraiva
C
Clementina posted a condolence
Thursday, July 22, 2021
São was a very special friend, always available when we needed even in busy times.
Um grande abraço, Clementina e Chico
R
Rita posted a condolence
Thursday, July 22, 2021
Saozinha was our cool cousin. The one we never really knew the age, because she always went along our plans and ideas.
She was always available for a good chat about politics, food, handicraft and life!
She loved her busy life between two or more continents, but also the easy going life in Sesimbra, enjoying the simple pleasures.
And she had a beautiful voice and smile!
Till this day, it still feels like you went abroad for a conference but will be back any moment soon.
Um grande beijinho Rita
E
Ester Gabetta posted a condolence
Thursday, July 22, 2021
All the pleasant and instructive opportunities of encounter (Pavia, Vienna, Mantova, Lisbon..) we have had with you and Eric are stamped indelibly on our memory. "Sit tibi terra levis", Sao.
Ester and Eugenio
A
Ana Helena Oliveira posted a condolence
Thursday, July 22, 2021
"A saudade é a tristeza que fica em nós quando as coisas de que gostamos se vão embora.(...)" , Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen
Ficarás sempre no nosso Coração!
Até sempre Sãozinha...
Ana Helena e Rui
M
Maria Joao Azevedo posted a condolence
Thursday, July 22, 2021
To Sao, perhaps the brightest mind and soul I had the privilege to have as a very close friend.
She will stay in our hearts and memories – I leave a few photos that witness some of many wonderful and cheerful moments together. Thank you!
m
mario Pulvirenti posted a condolence
Thursday, July 22, 2021
We remember all the nice moments spent together, discussing about math and life (polytics, family and food, in particular baccalao). We will miss you, Sao.
Mario and Silvia.
M
Maria Joao Azevedo uploaded photo(s)
Thursday, July 22, 2021



To Sao, perhaps the brightest mind and soul I had the privilege to have as a very close friend.
She will stay in our hearts and memories – I leave a few photos that witness some of many wonderful and cheerful moments together. Thank you!
M
Mario and Vanda posted a condolence
Thursday, July 22, 2021
We met Sao in Lisbon. It was a strong instant connection and soon we were sharing dinners and stories with Eric and Sao. She encouraged us to get our own place in Lisbon: which we did! This made it possible to develop a wonderful transatlantic friendship with many dinners at local restaurants and at our own apartment.
We loved her joie de vivre and we are grateful for all the good times we had together.
She will be missed
Vanda and Mario
P
Pierre Degond posted a condolence
Thursday, July 22, 2021
Among the many times we have me Sao, I remember your visit with Eric in Toulouse when we wandered in the streets together and had lunch somewhere on place Saint Georges. We had also great times in Lisbon and you took me and a couple of friends to your favorite restaurant, a small and modest place but with fantastic food. You loved life, friendship, good food, good wine, joy and laughter. You will be forever missed.
R
Rossana Marra uploaded photo(s)
Thursday, July 22, 2021




Memories of very happy moments togheter (Lisbon, Trieste, Paris)
We really miss Sao
Rossana &Lello
M
Manuela and Rui Vilela Mendes posted a condolence
Thursday, July 22, 2021
All the lovely kindness and friendship you gave us, is a cherished gift that will remain forever in our minds. We very much regret your suffering in the last stretch of your journey in this life. May infinity be light and glorious as you deserve.
Manuela and Rui Vilela Mendes
A
Amit Einav posted a condolence
Thursday, July 22, 2021
I have been fortunate enough to not only work with Sao, but t also get to know her as the lovely, bright, charming person that she was. I have many (and yet too few) memories of her, all of which bring smile to my face, but one shines brighter in my mind.
In 2016 my partner, Martha, and myself have travelled to Lisbon to see its beauty and for me to work with Sao and Eric (we started by visiting Sesimbra, where Sao and Eric had allowed us to stay in a small place they own - but that is a story for another time). On one of the evenings, Sao and Eric have taken Martha and myself to a lovely small local restaurant to eat a speciality of the region - grilled Sardines. The meal was gorgeous (though very boney!) and the company was exquisite. After the meal we walked the streets and talked about maths, life and everything in between.
It was a beautiful night - one we will cherish forever.
Sao is, and will continue to be, missed but her memory will continue to shine brightly - much like she did.
Amit (and Martha)
M
The family of Maria Conceicao Carvalho uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Please wait

Our Location
Map
About Us
Funeral Home in Princeton, NJ Providing Professional Funeral Services in Mercer, Middlesex, and Somerset Counties. Family Owned and Operated. Princeton's Oldest Funeral Home.
Contact Us
Phone: (609) 924-0242
Fax: (609) 683-5303
Email: matherhodge@gmail.com