 |  | Steve Gordon
| 1/9/2012 - My brother Steve Gordon passed away today. He was 60. He was an incredibly blessed and successful man, overcoming an extremely difficult and challenging childhood.
His father was the great West Coast Baritone saxophonist Bob Gordon who died
when Steve was 3. Our mother had a breakdown in the weeks and
months following Bob's death. Steve and his younger sister Stacy were
then taken away from her. They were 4 and 2 at the time. He then
spent his childhood bouncing between bleak orphanages, foster homes ( some good, some not so good), a few days or weeks
at a time with our mother ( who struggled through the death of a second husband), and our Grandmother and Great Aunt Jane. When Stacy was 10 she died of Leukemia. Steve was 12 at the time.
But in spite of these challenges, he was an excellent student and world class swimmer in college, posting times in the top ten in the world in the 100 and 200 meter breaststroke at his best in 1972. He then went on to med school and a great career as a doctor. He was the head of the Infectious Disease dept. at Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in 1988 when I met him for only the 2nd time. He was more than 15 years older than I was and we only got to know each other well after 1994.
He married Joan Siracuse and they had two beautiful children, Kyle and Alana, seen in the picture here. They moved to Sebring Florida 20 years ago and built a practice there together.
Steve became an avid marathon runner at that time. But after running a marathon in late January of 94 he didn't recover properly. After tests a major cancer was discovered, and he had surgery on March 1st. It was a very serious and complex surgery. Joan told me at the time they weren't sure he'd even survive it.
Amazingly, though our mother and I knew nothing of Steve's illness, she died suddenly on that same day, March 1st 1994, in the late afternoon, while Steve was being operated on. Her social security # was also picked the next morning in the NY Post to win $500. Sometimes life is stranger than fiction.
Steve had an impressive recovery after the surgery. He resumed his running and also began competing in triathlons over the next 10 years. He never spoke much about his accomplishments. But he did tell that me he was one of the first guys in his age group out of the water at the "Escape from Alcatraz" triathlon when he did it at the age of 51. I've always been very proud of him.
He and Joan would eventually go their separate ways. But Joan and her partner Heidi have continued to be family to Steve. And along with Kyle and Alana, Steve's also been blessed by the love of his long time partner Deb, her daughter Amanda, and Amanda's boyfriend Nick. They all comprise an amazing and inspiring modern family, and I know that Steve was deeply touched to have such love, care and support in his life; from them as well as the many friends that loved him. There could be no bigger blessing for someone who had so little love as a child.
In 2004 Steve had a recurrence of cancer. He had surgery that year and the next. But while his health was a hindrance at times during the remainder of his life and he had to occasionally take some time off, he continued to work, and move forward in his career.
In 2010 he applied for, and got, the job as the head of his county's ( Hardee Co.) Board of Health. He never stopped moving forward, and worked from home through last Friday. I spent an amazing 6 days with him last month. We slept in the same room, talking much of the night. We spoke on the phone most days since then, even having a laugh last night about my picking more winners then him in yesterday's football games. He passed peacefully this evening. Thank You for being my brother Steve, Love, Jon
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 |  |  | | | |  | Steve Gordon | | My brother Steve Gordon passed away today. He was 60. He was an incredibly blessed and successful man, overcoming an extremely difficult... | | |
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