A Shared UMD French Class Brought These Two Science Terps Together…Pour Toujours [Forever]

After more than 55 years together, Science Terps Marc and Carel Slatkoff are still on the move and making memories.

It wasn’t quite amour at first sight. But when Marc Slatkoff (B.S. ’70, zoology) spied Carel Hoffeditz (B.S. ’70, microbiology) chatting with two other male students in French class their sophomore year at the University of Maryland, he knew he had to act.

So, after class one day, he looked her up. 

“Luckily, there weren’t very many Hoffeditz’s in the Maryland phone book,” he said. 

Sparks flew on the phone, to Carel’s surprise, and something special was set in motion. But it was complicated. Marc was dating someone else at the time. 

“Knowing I had to end that relationship was a difficult distraction for me that semester,” he admitted. “I hated to ruin [my then girlfriend’s] freshman year with heartbreak.” 

But it had to be done. He was smitten with Carel. They finally had their first date that summer—dinner at The Candlelight Inn in Catonsville.

“We talked for hours afterwards, about everything, sitting in his car outside my parents’ house,” Carel said. “We were out there until 1 a.m. and my mother was not happy.” 

But love was in the air, and the pair quickly became a couple. 

Finding their way

Although Marc and Carel didn’t share any science classes, each was on course for a science degree—Marc in zoology and Carel in microbiology.

Marc hadn’t planned on life sciences. He came to Maryland planning to major in political science and maybe attend law school. But as the Vietnam War loomed, he realized three things that would guide him in the biggest decisions of his life.

“I wanted to do something truly meaningful in my career, I wanted to be my own boss and I wanted to be with Carel,” he said. 

Carel, meanwhile, hoped to leave UMD with a marketable skill—and maybe more.

“Things were different then for women,” she said. “You went to college expecting to get your degree but also meet someone, get married and whatnot,” she said.

A week after graduation, the two married in the Catonsville church that Carel had attended growing up. Looking for that meaningful career, Marc had applied to medical school out of state, but before relocating, they spent the summer housesitting in the D.C. area. Finally, they moved to Gainesville, Florida, to begin the next chapter of their lives together.

All the right moves

While Marc attended medical school, Carel put her science degree to work to support them, landing a job as a researcher for an endocrinologist at the University of Florida. But soon they would relocate again, to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, so Marc could complete his internship and fellowship at Wake Forest University. Making good on his plan to work for himself, he and a partner then opened an oncology practice, while Carel worked in high school administration and then taught high school science. 

“I felt I didn’t know diddlysquat, but they needed a teacher, so I taught,” she recalls. 

Two daughters followed, Alison and Kerry, and in 2001, another opportunity for a life change arose. 

Marc was invited to work with First Descents, a new Vail-based nonprofit organization that led adventure camps for children with cancer. With a longtime interest in quality-of-life issues for cancer survivors, he jumped at the chance to help, serving first as camp oncologist and later as medical director. Early in his tenure, the team expanded to serve adolescents and adults, and the organization, now based in Denver, operates some 40 camps today. 

Also involved in First Descents, “Carel had the most difficult job, working harder than anyone, as camp mom,” Marc said. With some attendees managing severe disease, emotions could run high. But it was a role she relished.

“You’d get attached to the campers, and at the end of a week, you didn’t want them to leave,” she said. “It was exhausting but also very uplifting to be with them.”

Looking forward, looking back

Never ones to stay put for long, the Slatkoffs, both 78 this year, continue to travel and split their time between North Carolina and Colorado. They visit their daughters and enjoy their three grandsons and many good friends. Marc still volunteers for First Descents. Carel reads voraciously.

Thinking back on their time as Terps, the couple remembers going to Maryland games—basketball, football and lacrosse—and heading to the campus Dairy for ice cream, Ledo for pizza and a deli with huge meat sandwiches at the corner of campus. 

“We took pride in being Terps, and we continue to root for UMD scholastically and athletically,” Marc said. That’s regardless of how the sports teams are doing, Carel added. 

They also feel blessed by their kinetic history. 

“Life has been wonderful—in the autumn of our lives, we have an amazing family and can look back on fond memories of those early years together,” Marc said. 

That definitely includes their time in College Park.

“UMD was a very good experience,” Marc said. “It’s where I found the love of my life, and she’s been my rock ever since.”