Search Results

KURTZ -- Steven R. Kurtz, of Albuquerque, died Wednesday, June 29, 2005 in a white water rafting accident while on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. He was 51. Steve was born in Washington, DC in 1953 and grew up in Clinton, MD. He attended Bucknell University in Lewisberg, PA, where he was introduced to the three great loves of his life: physics, outdoor wilderness activities and his future wife, Mary. After graduating from Bucknell, Steve did graduate work at the University of Illinois, earning a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics in 1980. He moved to Albuquerque that same year and began a successful career as research physicist at Sandia National Laboratories. He had over 300 publications to his credit at the time of his death. Steve was an avid road cyclist and an enthusiastic backpacker who made more than a dozen treks to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, despite having been diagnosed with myasthenia gravis 15 years ago. He was a fighter who refused to let life pass him by. Steve's determination and courage were tested when he was diagnosed with a rare, advanced stage cancer in 2003. After a grueling regime of radio-chemotherapy and several surgeries, Steve became a cancer survivor. He was in remission when he died. Steve will be remembered for his unrelenting determination to live life to its fullest and for his quirky sense of humor. It is a great consolation to his family that he died doing something that he loved - being outdoors in the wilderness - and in the company of his family and good friends. He will be sorely missed. Steve is survived by his father, Burt Kurtz; his wife, Mary; and his two daughters, Jean and Terri. They all live in Albuquerque. Jean and Terri both share their father's passion for science. Memorial Services will be held on Monday, July 11, 2005 at 10:00 a.m. at French Mortuary, Wyoming Blvd. Chapel. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his memory to either The Lance Armstrong LiveStrong Foundation (www.livestrong.org) which aids cancer survivors, or to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (www.myasthenia.org) to support continuing research into the causes and treatments for myasthenia gravis. French Mortuary 7121 Wyoming Blvd. NE 823-9400
        Published on: Fri July 08, 2005