Steve died April 29, 2015, in Falls Church, Va., after a short illness. He had suffered from myelodysplasia for a number of years.
Born in Shenandoah, Pa., Steve prepared at Shenandoah Catholic High School, Admiral Farragut Academy, and the Peddie School. He was a member of the football, baseball, and track teams, sang in the Glee Club, and was active in the school newspaper and student government. Between secondary school and college, he took a year off to ship out of New Orleans on shrimp boats.
At Princeton, Steve majored in biology, was in the ROTC program, and played 150-pound football. He took his meals at Dial Lodge and worked on the Bric-a-Brac and Orange Key. He became a legend, manipulating time constraints also to work regular night shifts as an orderly at Princeton Hospital.
Steve graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, completed his internship at Walter Reed Hospital, and served three years in the Army. He then joined a pioneering medical group in Northern Virginia, which provided coverage of emergency rooms. Steve became a national leader in establishing certification in emergency medical care. He and his partners performed multiple medical evacuations of travelers from many areas around the globe. Later, he retrained as an intensivist and was regularly taking shifts in intensive-care units until shortly before his death.
Steve is survived by his sister, Theresa Bednar, and several cousins. The class extends sincere condolences to them all.