Steve died in Seattle April 20, 2014, from respiratory failure.
Steve was born in Princeton and served as student administration chairman at Princeton High School, where he participated in football, track, and student council. As a Princeton undergraduate, he majored in English drama and sang in the Tigertones, played in the band and orchestra, and took his meals at Tower Club.
He went on to earn a master’s degree and a doctorate from UC, Berkeley and also studied at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon. For three decades, his teaching of courses in British, American, and European drama at Pomona College was characterized by “a desire to stimulate the minds of young writers and actors and an insatiable mastery of the material,” according to an article in the Pomona College Magazine. He also employed his carpentry skills to build a mobile stage, on which he performed Samuel Beckett’s works in a tour of Western states.
After retiring in 2004, Steve performed in community-theater productions in Lopez Island, Wash., and pursued his interests in deep-sea fishing and Formula Vee auto racing.
To Steve’s wife, Susan; children Marka, Josh, Gretchen, and Meredith; stepchildren Lindsay and John; and his sister, Mary, the class extends its sympathy.