"A tragic and senseless loss. Steve was a good friend to the hobby and a personal friend to many of us. He was always generous with his time and knowledge. A real gentleman and decent human being who will be sorely missed."

"Dave Bowers gave a personal reminiscence at Steve's memorial service and taped video comments were broadcast at the service, including mine."

The memorial service was a fine tribute. Steve's extended family was on hand as was a nice contingent of his friends from the numismatic community. A number of us had a chance to speak and share reminiscences. Steve was one of my closest numismatic friends for more than 40 years. He will be forever remembered and honored.

Steve's death and how it happened is a shock and a terrible loss to the numismatic community. I've known and dealt with both Steve and Rich Rossa since the 1970's as they would more than occasionally have a Jewish related token (Steve) or medal (Rich) that I would be interested in and we would commence negotiations which usually lasted the entire show.

Steve had a sister who lived (perhaps still lives) in Colorado not too far from me. Fifteen or so years ago he was visiting us and they made a special trip up the hill to deliver me a very heavy package of medals. He would visit his sister every year or so and would always tell me he was confounded by the weather here. If he came in the dead of winter, the weather was usually mild and dry but if he visited in April it was usually cold and snowy.

Interestingly a good friend of his sister was the manager of our local insurance company office and Rita and her would talk about numismatics in a 3rd hand way whenever they had occasion to speak. In a less than 6 degrees of separation fact: Rich Rossa's brother was a close friend of mine in college who I still usually meet for breakfast (or lunch or dinner) almost every time I'm back east. And he has not the slightest interest in numismatics.

In another eerie coincidence Steve is the 2nd numismatist (that I am aware of) that was a victim of a hit and run driver in Brooklyn in the past year. Leo Reich, a collector of ancient Jewish coins, was killed sometime last summer by a hit and run driver. I certainly am not trying to make light of it but what are the chances of someone in Colorado knowing 2 people in Brooklyn who have been killed by hit and run drivers?

Steve's memorial service was Wednesday afternoon, which gave me the chance to meet Steve's family for the first time. Unsurprisingly, they were incredibly nice folks. While they knew Steve was very into numismatics, they seemed surprised to hear just how well-respected he was. The support of our community has meant a lot to them, and I suspect it will continue to.

Life goes on for the rest of us, but I suspect none of us will be able to look at a token for awhile without thinking of our missing friend.