6/10/2025

My name is Edward Tongju Koh. I am a retired anesthesiologist and brain researcher, the father of two sons, David & Jonny, father-in-law to Amanda & Phyllis, and grandfather to Ava & Serena. I lost my beloved wife Carol Mastromauro to cancer on January 5, 2021. She worked as an academic social worker, and she was my soulmate for forty years.

My family of origin comprises my 95 year-old mother, my father who died 36 years ago, and five siblings. My parents and oldest sister were born in Korea, and the remaining five of us in Cambridge MA. I have many dear nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews. My grandparents are deceased.

I have been writing in this blog since 2014, but have incorporated and adapted writing from before then. It is called “Short Life Stories”. I write most of them in one or two sittings, and edit them frequently before and after publishing them. I write when I am moved to do so, and often go for months without publishing (although I am usually active writing elsewhere). Friends and family have urged me to expand my writing to a book-length work, but the thought of that has in the past led to decades of writers’ block, so I am resisting that temptation. If I get one or two heartfelt responses to a post, I feel that I have succeeded in my goal in writing: to reach out to loved ones and old and new friends, and thereby understand myself better.

How I handle names…

My effort has been to change the names of everyone who has not given me their permission to be named. The members of my immediate family have agreed to be named. Almost everyone else I have not asked, and so I have changed their names, even if their actions were laudable. I am making an effort to exercise an abundance of caution in respecting people’s privacy.