We are sad to report that Susan Abmayr passed away suddenly last Thursday, July 18. Susan's scientific career and introduction to Drosophila began in Sarah Elgin's lab where she worked as a technician before her graduate training in the lab of Dr. Robert Roeder studying basic mechanisms of transcription. While she was a post-doc with Tom Maniatis, Susan identified transcription factors that determine muscle fate and patterning. For over 20 years, her laboratory at Penn State and later at the Stowers Institute focused on uncovering additional mechanisms that govern myoblast differentiation and fusion in the generation of muscle fibers. Susan's first love of transcription never wavered as she maintained a long-standing collaboration in the chromatin field with her husband, Jerry Workman. She will be missed by friends, colleagues, and the numerous trainees she mentored.