Steve died from emphysema June 20, 2011. He lived in Wharton, N.J.
Steve grew up in Lawrence, N.Y., and prepped at Woodmere, where he studied Latin with the poet and translator Rolfe Humphries. While in prep school he earned a spot as a pianist at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Mich. For two summers he studied French at McGill University. He entered Princeton as a premed student, won the Stinnecke Prize sophomore year for translation from Greek and Latin, and majored in classics. Senior year he roomed with Jim Brazell.
He belonged to Terrace Club, spent his junior year in France at the Sorbonne, and wrote his senior thesis on Aeschylus, supervised by Robert Goheen ’40 *48. He studied classics at Harvard, spent a fellowship year in Rome, and began teaching at Smith College. Later he taught at Barnard and Briarcliff College. His final career was in computational linguistics, working on programs that translated German and Italian into English. It helped that he could read nine languages and speak five.
Steve is remembered for his loving spirit, ready wit — he had a Jewish joke for every occasion — and profound learning. The class extends condolences to his sister, Linda Pollack, and her family.