Robert Steel

STEEL, Robert
Kalamazoo Bob passed away Thursday afternoon, February 20, 2014 at Friendship Village. He was born on March 17, 1923 in Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada. Bob grew up the youngest of three sons on the Canadian prairie as part of a homesteading family during the worst years of the Prairie Dustbowl. After several years his family moved into Winnipeg and he worked in the family bakery making daily deliveries, and playing ice hockey at every chance. At age 17, he joined the Canadian Air Force and served as a Spitfire airplane mechanic as part of a contingent serving with the RAF during WW2. He later deployed to France during the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, Bob went to college on a Veterans scholarship at the University of Manitoba and earned a degree in Microbiology. He then moved to Ottawa Canada and worked at the Canadian Research Council, where he met his future wife Marjorie. They were married on December 21, 1952. Together they moved to Manchester, England where he pursued his Ph.D. in Microbiology. As part of that experience he edited the first book ever written on the subject of Biochemical Engineering. Robert joined The Upjohn Company in 1958 as an Industrial Microbiologist, and the family moved to Kalamazoo. He worked for Upjohn for many years until his retirement after a long career. During that time, in addition to Bob's devotion to family and his children, his other passion was youth hockey. Throughout the 1960's and 70's, Bob was first a co-founder and then a coach for many teams as part of KOHA hockey, and his influence touched many young players. He was throughout his life a committed fan of WMU hockey, serving as scorekeeper of many games for years, and attending games even into his last years. Following retirement, Bob discovered his artistic side, and spent 15 years engaging in a number of artistic media, including stained glass design, linoleum block printing, and pottery. In his own way he contributed to the arts, even inventing a new form of pottery he named "el torcheo." Bob is preceded in death by his wife Marjorie, and is survived by two children, Douglas and Vivian, who presently live in Salt Lake City, UT and Downingtown, PA respectively. He will be missed very much, and everyone who knew him will remember his sense of humor, upbeat attitude, and sense of playfulness and whimsy. A memorial gathering will be held from 2:00pm-4:00pm on Thursday, Feb. 27th, at Langeland Family Funeral Homes, Westside Chapel, 3926 S. 9th St., Kalamazoo. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in his name to the Mike Gary Athletic Fund at Western Michigan University.