With great sorrow, our family deeply regrets to share that we have lost Aaron Brett Muller, of blessed memory, our cherished son, cousin, uncle, nephew and beloved brother to Elliot and Shayna and to his elder brother, Ross, of blessed memory, who preceded him in death in 2012.

Aaron died on Tuesday Dec 30, 2025, while on a family cruise in the Caribbean. We were snorkeling in a calm, beautiful bay in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands and Aaron was enjoying seeing the underwater sea life on a guided swim. When approaching a nearby reef, someone noticed Aaron swimming off-course, seeming panicked and out of breath. Nearby swimmers helped him to the nearest boat. He was unconscious, lifted onto the boat and found to have had no pulse. Unfortunately, heroic measures were unable to save his life. We remain in shock and devastation. We have lost a treasured person with a heart of gold.

Aaron was a person of great dignity, accomplishment, good character and very fun-loving. He was sweet, caring, gentle, sensitive, quiet, helpful to others and he embraced life on every level. He was always traveling around the U.S. and abroad, attending concerts and events, spending time with friends and family, watching sports, playing Fantasy Football with his extended family and friends, reading, watching thriller movie series, playing with his beloved little niece and nephew and providing tech support to all of us needing help with our phones, computers and tv apps. He loved planning and attending family and friend events. He had so many interests and was always teaching himself something new including woodworking, video editing, graphic arts and, recently, 3D printing, Italian, Hebrew, electric guitar and piano. He loved our Jewish faith and community, was a spiritual person and loved spending time in Israel. He loved nature, the mountains and snowboarding. He was a truly great snowboarder, feeling joy in every turn. He loved riding the slopes with his brothers and was always happy to cruise alongside his mom. He had so many friends who will miss him deeply and he was admired by most everyone who ever knew him.

Throughout his childhood, he cherished spending his summers at Camp Ramah. He attended high school at The San Diego Jewish Academy and loved his years there. The friends he made there have been amongst his "forever friends." He attended college at USC and remained the USC Trojans most devoted fan. When they won, it was surely because he willed them to win and cheered the loudest. He was proud to be a Theta Chi fraternity brother and held many offices, his favorite being photographer / historian. He majored in archeology and photography and went on many summer digs in Israel through a USC program. In total, he spent at least seven summers in Israel throughout his life.

After college, Aaron pursued advanced training in computer-aided design which led him to his career as a highly-skilled architectural draftsman. He worked for General Atomics, a large aerospace company, at their San Diego campus, for ten years. He excelled at his profession, truly enjoyed being amongst his team of co-workers and found his work a great source of pride. He had a bright future ahead at his work knowing that promotions and the opportunity to became a certified architect were in his future.

Aaron faced numerous health challenges in his life, including childhood leukemia, but accepted any difficulties with grace and the determination to keep on doing the things he enjoyed, always finding adaptive ways to work around any limitation. This attitude shaped his character into a person who was just appreciative of the simplest things, never deriving esteem from material possessions, rather always finding joy in the warmth of meaningful relationships, unique experiences and quiet times. He viewed the world with wonder, saw nature as art and was as excited and captivated by seeing a colorful iguana scamper across the road as with seeing a magnificent castle in Europe.

We regret the loss of so many beautiful future years we should have shared, but we are grateful for the 37 years we were gifted with our loving, fun, good-natured son and brother. Aaron engaged in every opportunity for interesting experiences that came his way and actively pursued the things he most wanted to do, rarely postponing anything. In his lifetime, he experienced deep love leading to a brief period of marriage. His life had many high points, many magical moments. We're comforted in knowing that he experienced such a full life despite the brevity of his years.

Aaron remains a living part of our family. We hope we will always feel his presence and love, hear his voice, know what he would have advised in various situations and recognize things he would have found humorous. As we think of times with him, we either laugh, smile or cry. These are tough moments, but we welcome them because it means he continues touching our lives and we are still connected.

We are committed to performing good deeds in his memory knowing that, if he had lived on, he would have helped others with acts of kindness. Taking the time to stop and do an extra good deed on his behalf keeps his life force going so that good deeds he would have done still get done, so that the universe is not diminished by his early death. We hope that, in Aaron's memory, you will do the same, taking that extra moment to stop and help someone in need and doing added good deeds that help make our world a better, kinder, happier place.

If you would like to honor Aaron’s memory in a more tangible and life-affirming way, we invite you to plant trees in the Aaron Brett Muller Memorial Grove in Israel. Through this charitable act, you will honor his memory in a way that would have been very meaningful to him. Each grove planted helps communities thrive and flourish by providing shade and shield to all who inhabit the land of Israel. Planting a tree on Aaron’s behalf is as if he planted it himself, which would have given him great satisfaction.

This site has various ways to donate. The easiest (recommended) is the lower section (below recent donors) of multiple blue squares. In that section, the "Other" button will allow a donation of any amount. More complex (confusing) steps are involved in the large "Donate" button on top which allows for private messages and the "Plant Trees” button which creates certificates. All donations via any button on the page go directly to the grove. Each tree is deeply appreciated and will be an enduring continuation of Aaron’s life and spirit.

Thank you for remembering Aaron in any way that is meaningful to you - whether contributing trees, doing extra good deeds in his place, remembering and recounting wonderful times you’ve shared with him and / or emulating his kindness.

If you would like to see a montage of photos of Aaron's beautiful life, please use this link:

drive.google.com/file/d/1VCMck0zRNFrVRp_XKzW4lEwg-T_ztt9Z/view?usp=drivesdk.

May Aaron Brett Muller, known in Judaism by his Hebrew name, Baruch Herzl Aharon, z”l, always bless and inspire us with the memory of his warm, kind nature and fine character.