Remembering Steve Gross

With the help of good friend Dave Dolan, TOS recently completed the Steve Gross Memorial at the TOS Hooks Woods Sanctuary in memory of our late past-president. I was asked to write this article as Steve was my friend and mentor, but that's just not true. Jim Hailey was my mentor; Steve Gross was my guru. Steve and I traveled throughout Texas and Idaho together birding, eating, and enjoying fine wine. Steve was an excellent birder, but his first love was fly fishing. He was also a wine connoisseur and appreciated fine dining (as well as not-so-fine dining). He had so many interests and was always expanding his knowledge about so many things. Steve was a true Renaissance man.

Steve encouraged me to set birding goals. At the end of 2012 Steve asked me what my birding goal would be for 2013. I replied that I wanted to be number one for the ABA area. Though I did not end up first that year, I did complete the Bird-a-Day challenge and was one of only four people to finish out of approximately 10,000 who started out in January. Steve, Teri Zambon and Judy Kestner all stressed out about that one!

Sadly Steve died from complications of the flu in October of 2013. Attending the memorial in January 2014 was eye-opening. Steve had a knack for making all his friends think that they were special and, you know what? We all were.

With Steve's passing, we lost a fabulous birder, teacher, fly-fisherman, connoisseur of wine, food, travel and literature, but most importantly we lost a good friend and mentor.

Rest in peace, Steve. I'm glad to have known you.

Susan Foster, TOS Region 7 Director