Who is Maurice and Irene Salman from Fugitive Pieces and what is their importance?

Maurice was Jakob Beer's one lasting friend from his years at the University of Toronto. He was a graduate student, who had just moved to the city. Jakob's mentor, Athanasios (Athos) Roussos, invited Maurice to dinner, and the three sometimes went to the movies, developing crushes on various actresses. Maurice married Irene, whom Jakob viewed as the perfection of womanhood. Maurice later became the head of meteorology in a museum. When Jakob and his new wife, Alex, visited the Salmans, Alex was uncomfortable, as Jakob was among her Marxist friends. The foursome regularly attend Saturday matinées at the local theater.