Buzz Aldrin’s wife, Anca Faur, has passed away just two years after the couple were married.
Faur, 66, died peacefully on the night of Tuesday, Oct. 28, surrounded by her husband and her son, Vlad Ghenciu, according to a statement shared on Facebook by the Faur and Aldrin families.
“Mrs. Aldrin, an accomplished chemical engineer with a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, served as the treasurer for the California Hydrogen Business Council and as Executive Vice President of Buzz Aldrin Ventures LLC,” the family statement read.
“I am so fortunate to have found and married the love of my life,” said the 95-year-old retired astronaut. “She brought joy to everything we did together. I will miss her dearly.”
Further details about her passing have not been released.
Aldrin and Faur first met in December 2017 at a professional event and began dating several months later in May 2018. They were married on Jan. 20, 2023 — his 93rd birthday — in a small, intimate ceremony held at a park near their home.
“It was a beautiful day,” Aldrin shared last year. “We decided on a private ceremony, as suitably intimate, just us and the stars in the sky.”
During that same conversation, the former astronaut described Faur as having “the whole Wizard of Oz package — brains, heart, and courage.” He said there was “something special about her and the way we connect so well,” adding that he had “never been happier in my life” and felt “lucky beyond words” to be with her.
“She is the love of my life,” Aldrin said at the time. “We do everything together — from eating meals and planning projects to watching the world go by, meeting with our families, and celebrating milestones like the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing.”
Their marriage marked Aldrin’s fourth. In 1954, he wed Joan Archer, with whom he shares three children: James, Andrew, and Janice. After their 1974 divorce, he married Beverly Van Zile in 1975; that marriage ended three years later. A decade later, Aldrin married Lois Driggs Cannon, with whom he spent 24 years before divorcing in 2012.
Born in Romania, Faur earned a degree in organic chemistry technology from Politehnica University Timisoara and worked for seven years as a chemical engineer and research assistant there. She later moved to the United States, completing her Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh in 1996, where she also served as a research assistant.
Her professional career included nearly two decades at Johnson Matthey, a global leader in chemicals and sustainable technologies based in London. From 2014 to 2020, she served as treasurer of the California Hydrogen Business Council before joining Buzz Aldrin Ventures as Executive Vice President.
