Michael E. Van Steenberg

Donations in lieu of flowers would be appreciated. Michael was Julia’s biggest Dressage fan and had adopted his daughter’s favorite charity as his own also. Julia will ride in the 2010 Ride For Life again this summer. The family appreciates donations made in his memory or for his favorite Dressage rider. Donations can be made on line at:



http://www.pvdarideforlife.org/supporter_donations_jhu.asp

Michael was a truly amazing person. He was always friendly, pleasant to be with, and a very stimulating colleague. He had extensive knowledge of a wide range of subjects. I remember on one occasion how his eyes lit up when he described to me the significance of the latest finding from the Galex space mission, of which I think he was deputy project scientist. He was a learned astrophysicist, so that was remarkable but not surprising. A few minutes later, however, he made the suggestion that...

I am so saddened to hear of Michael's sudden, recent passing.

I met Michael almost 2 years ago when we were both asked to be on a team of people evaluating proposals for Goddard's leadership development initiative. I found myself drawn to Michael for the quickness of his wit and the well thought out nature of what he said. I so respected Michael that I asked him just a few short months ago to serve on a panel to evaluate applicants for the same leadership program that he helped...

My family I were very saddened to hear of Michael's death. I was friends with Michael growing-up and also later in life. As a teenager, Michael was always a very bright kid who was always reading about space and gazing at stars through his telescope at night. Michael was also one of the best chess-players I've ever met. My deepest condolences to Charleen and Julie.

I first met Mike (aka mev: Mega Electron Volt) at GSFC over 10 years ago when he sought out our High End Computer Network support group to suggest we add info to our Net Info Ctr server. We were all impressed by his knowledge in our discipline area and of course in his, and especially by his exceptionally friendly manner and kind disposition. Several of us last saw Mike at our Directorate's Poster Blowout during which he seemed happy as ever, doing what I think he enjoyed most, sharing info...

Michael was an inspiration to young scientists like me. He had a fantastic sense of humor and was always upbeat. In the struggle for project funding and development, his spirit is something that I aspire to have. He will be missed.

Meeting Michael in the hallways always brought a smile to my face-- I will miss him. But especially this past year, I had an opportunity to work with Michael on his SBIR work where he introduced me to new folks and techniques that greatly advanced my work. I will miss Michael, but so will NASA miss his technical talents, wisdom and spirit of helpfulness.

I got to know Michael over the past 2 years as a result of our work together on the NightSat mission – a satellite proposal designed study Earth’s cities from space by their nighttime lights. Michael was always upbeat and cheerful. He was also incredibly bright and talented. He kept the mission development on track during times when no one else could. I used to look forward to his visits because his interest in life and his enthusiastic attitude always brightened my day. I grew to like...

Mike contributed to planning my upcoming wedding! Not long after we met at Goddard, where he was helping me to develop a training program for new NASA project scientists, he told me the tale of how he was married in Grand Teton National Park. That cinched it! And two days later, my fiancee and I decided that that was where we too were going to be married. I shall miss him and think of him during our ceremony in May.