They have three children together: Emmett (b.1979), who took his own life in 2016, after a life-threatening car collision and a subsequent battle with schizophrenia, and who for a time served in the Peace Corps; Jessie (b.1981), who herself is an artist and was a candidate for an advanced degree in neurobiology, and whose heroes include Helen Keller, Martin Luther King Jr, and Madonna; and Virginia (b.1985), now a lawyer.