My proximiity claim to fame is that while living in Princeton, NJ in the 1960's, I lived right across the street from Kurt Gödel, arguably the greatest mathematical mind of the twentieth century. By that time, though he was pretty much an insane recluse (he wouldn't eat for long periods of time because he was convinced someone was trying to poison him). In any event, apparently genius is not transmitted by proximity, as my case will attest! (Some of you may remember him from the popular book: "Gödel, Bach, and Escher")