Ronan Christpher Louis.

Ronan Christopher Louis, the son of Emily Rapp and her husband Rick Louis, passed away peacefully this morning at 3.30am in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the victim of Tay-Sachs disease. I hope for a quiet rest for Ronan, and my gentlest thoughts are with those he left behind. I have been following Ronan’s story on Ms. Rapp’s blog for several years; it is hard to express my feelings about this, though I imagine they are not unlike those of any parent who is aware of this story; I will hug my children closer to me tonight.

Ronan’s family is asking that donations be made in his memory to the National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases Association.

Ms. Rapp’s essay in the 15 October 2011 New York Times, “Notes from a Dragon Mom,” inspired some musings about a play I planned to write called Erlkönig, which I started and even may finish one day. Ms. Rapp’s book about Ronan, The Still Point of the Turning World, will be published next month by Penguin.