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Steve Glassman Obituary

Steve Glassman

Resident of Palo Alto

Passed away July 30, at his home, at the age of 54, of kidney cancer. Survivors include his children, Naomi and Ethan; his wife, Lucille; his mother, Rae Glassman of San Diego; his sister Debra Glassman of Seattle and her husband Ian London, and their daughters Pamela and Melissa London, and an extensive extended family.

Steve was a quiet man, a nerd in the best sense of the word. He went to high school in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, and attended CMU before graduating from Stanford with a degree in electrical engineering. He was a programmer for Xerox, Gavilan Computers, Acorn/Olivetti, Digital Equipment Corporation (Systems Research Center), and worked for Google at the time of his death. He loved computers, gadgets, tinkering, fixing things, doing crossword puzzles, helping people, and puzzling through things that had gone wrong. He was often to be found biking around Palo Alto in his Birkenstock sandals.

If you knew Steve, and would like to honor him, we ask that you take the time to write a note to his children, at their home address, to share a memory with them for the future.

If you prefer to donate instead, we ask that you consider Partners in School Innovation, partnersinschools.org. The family would like to thank Robert Keller, Doug Crane, Tom Tisch, and Richard Tabor for their company and friendship through his illness.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by San Jose Mercury News/San Mateo County Times on Aug. 5, 2010.

Memories and Condolences
for Steve Glassman

16 Entries

Patti Sindberg

March 3, 2024

I knew Steve from working in his father´s record store (Radio Doctors) in Milwaukee, WI in the mid-to-late 70´s. We´d have lunch frequently at the SafeHouse. A friend on Facebook just went there and brought back my thoughts of the fun lunches we had. I looked Steve up and discovered this sad news. My sympathy goes to his family. He was a kind young man.

Mark Pearson

July 16, 2011

I knew Steve through Google. He was at times a team-mate and an office-mate. Always, he was a friend. Regardless of what was happening at work, he always made time for chats, lunches, or giving advice. That's just the guy he was. He is missed, will be missed, and indeed has been missed for the year it's been since his passing.

Susan Shors

May 7, 2011

I met Steve as I was reading Gravitiy's Rainbow on my balcony one sunny Mountain View morning in 1979 or so. Of course he had read it too. We became great friends and roommates for several years in a couple different group houses. He had a terrific brilliant sense of humor. We cooked some bizarre meals together. I'm sorry he's gone so soon.

January 18, 2011

I remember Steve from Carnegie-Mellon. He was a fantastic Risk player (board game), almost always winning in our games. A very nice man and good friend. I am so sorry to read about him passing away.

-Gail Yaspan Buffington

Chuck Jerian

September 21, 2010

I worked with Steve at DEC SRC what seems like a long time ago. I'm saddened that he is gone, somehow I can't quite imagine him getting sick and dying. He was always fit looking and exercised and was calm. I've seen Lucille at various PASA meets where she is an official over the last few years. I never heard that Steve was sick. I hope everyone is ok.

Debbie Ellis

August 24, 2010

I'm very sorry to hear about Steve. I remember Steve and Lucille when we all swam at the Covington pool in the 80's and early 90's. I remember Steve as a very nice person.

Debby Meredith

August 20, 2010

We are very saddened by Steve's passing. He was indeed the classic nerd in all the positive aspects of the word :). And he was a humble man who enjoyed simple things. I remember being with him on his 30th birthday when Lu gave him 30 unique and quirky and "oh so Steve" t-shirts. He loved unwrapping and holding up each and every one. A perfect gift for a man so at home with himself in a t-shirt, shorts and Birkenstocks.

With deepest sympathies.

Guido van Rossum

August 18, 2010

What a shock! I just happened to look up Steve in our personnel database and this is what I found. I met Steve and Lucille when I was a summer intern at DEC SRC long ago; they stood out as particularly welcome and supportive of the interns. Our paths crossed only a few times at Google and now I am doubly sorry I didn't get in touch before. Farewell Steve! All the best Lucille.

Katie McCormick

August 17, 2010

I am so shocked and saddened to get this news. I worked with Lucille many years ago, and that's how I met Steve and the kids. Some time after that I joined Google and saw Steve often because we worked in the same building. One day he dropped everything to help me use an unfamiliar fax machine. Another day, when most of the printers in the building were down, he walked downstairs with me to help me find the one lone functioning printer in the building.

Whenever I saw Steve, I asked him how Lucille and the kids were doing. But I never thought to ask how HE was doing. I had no idea he was sick.

He was the nicest guy--unassuming and kind. I loved his sense of humor. I wish I could see Steve one more time to give him a hug and tell him how much I liked and admired him.

Sheri Morrison

August 15, 2010

I don't know when or why we started doing this, but I remember in the earlier days of our friendship with Steve, we referred to him as "Glassperson" (always just by his last name), clearly in reference to the political correctness of the time. It fit with his sense of humor, and ours!

Betty Reid

August 14, 2010

Steve, I loved you from the day I met you! Mawsie

Jerry Morrison

August 7, 2010

Steve was always friendly and cheerful, even in the face of setbacks. Funny, too.

I can still hear Steve's voice retelling the story of his interview at Xerox. He biked up the hill to Xerox carrying his nice clothes in a roll. When he got there he asked for a place to change. Charles Simonyi told him not to bother, so he interviewed in bike shorts.

Years later, I don't know that I would've interviewed at Google without Steve's referral. That was helpful.

Ronnie Falcao

August 6, 2010

My heart goes out to Lucille and the kids. Steve was one of the best: a really smart guy, a humanitarian, an environmentalist, and a devoted husband and father. He had the office across the hall from me, and when compiles were especially slow (back at Acorn in the 80's), we played "hockey" by trying to toss an o-ring through each other's doors. When laser printers first came out, he couldn't wait to program ours to print out Mandelbrot sets. Steve was very helpful in turning me into a bicycle commuter, and we had fun learning Italian together at Olivetti. What a loss for us all. With deepest sympathy.

August 5, 2010

Although I have not seen Steve in MANY years, I will always remember him from our days at Xerox. He will be missed. My heart is with his family. Liz (Barnett) Utter

Candace Smith

August 5, 2010

My heart is with all of your during this very hard time. ALL my love, Candace Smith (Thompson)

Sheri Morrison

August 5, 2010

Steve was one of the first of Jerry's Xerox friends that I met when Jerry and I started dating back in the late 1970's. I loved Steve's warmth and sense of humor. Although we haven't seen him often over the past many years, whenever we ran into him there was an immediate sense of connection and friendship. There's a certain symmetry to the beginning and end of Steve's and Jerry's work life together: First job at Xerox, last job at Google. What a tremendous loss for all of us. Our hearts go out to you Lucille, Naomi & Ethan. We will always remember Steve with fondness and love.

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