Steve Christensen

1953 - 2018

November 18, 1953 - June 20, 2018 Steve Christensen, who formerly served as executive editor of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, which at its height sold more than 140 features in more than 100 countries around the world, has died. He was 64. Steve died on June 20, and the cause of death has not been determined. Features distributed by the Times Syndicate included Pulitzer Prize-winning commentators and columnists, full news and feature services, editorial cartoons and comics, online products and photo and graphics packages. While at the Syndicate, Steve also served as editor for Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State in the Nixon and Ford administrations, and Jeane Kirkpatrick, former UN Ambassador with the Reagan administration, who both wrote columns distributed by the Syndicate. When he left the Syndicate in 2000 after Tribune Co. purchased the L.A. Times, Steve was the Syndicate's senior vice president for new media. He subsequently worked with a group of people to produce programs for distribution on high-tech, high-end television shows. While with the group he met Alvin Toffler (Future Shock) and his wife, Heidi, who hired him to be editor for their last book, Revolutionary Wealth, and other projects. Steve worked with the Tofflers for 10 years. Alvin Toffler wrote about Steve in the introduction of Revolutionary Wealth: "He proved to be a first-class in-house editor. More important, he brought with him discipline, brains, warmth, good nature and a delightful, sardonic sense of humor. It made finishing the book a pleasure. In the process, it made a friendship." Steve was born to Harold and Gayle Sutton Christensen on November 18, 1953, and grew up in Salt Lake City. His father was deputy U.S. attorney general and subsequently served as acting attorney general in the Reagan administration after the departure of Ed Meese. Harold also had his own law firm in Salt Lake City. As the first-born, Steve was a handful, with seemingly boundless energy. Yet he demonstrated early on that he could focus his discipline on subjects that captured his interest – from attaining the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America, to awards and accolades for speech and debate in high school and college. Throughout his life, Steven was always looking for the next challenge. By his sophomore year in high school he knew he had exhausted his goals there. So he graduated as a junior from Olympus High School, then applied for – and was granted – early admission to the University of Utah, where he received degrees in English and History. Around this time he obtained an internship in the speech/publicity department of the university and worked for the Scott Matheson gubernatorial campaign. This was a highlight of his early life and it created his appreciation for the written word's power to influence perception, opinion and policy. It also provided a segue into journalism, a move that would prove as much a calling as a career. Not sure of what to do next, he joined a group of people who were launching an all-news, sports, weather radio station in Salt Lake City, KWMS, which was a novelty at its time. While with the station he worked closely with reporters from United Press International, then one of the world's largest news agencies. He was hired by UPI in 1976 to be a reporter for its Salt Lake City bureau, later served as UPI's Idaho state editor, and was news editor for UPI's 10-state Pacific division based in San Francisco before joining the Times Syndicate in 1985. One of Steve's close UPI buddies was Ralph Wakely. "Steve's strengths were in managing talented people to make them better and in editing written material," Ralph said. "Anything he worked on came out reading better. As a friend, he was generous and always helpful, he made you laugh so often you always looked forward to joining Steve and his dad on Hal's back patio for a Scotch and political conversation or later in his life on Steve's back patio for more of the same, cocktails and conversation." Steve was a man of great integrity. While with UPI, the agency had to make staff cuts and Steve was tasked with letting 15 people go. He cut a deal so that senior-level people could take early retirement and others could stay. On the eve of the announcement, UPI said they had to let junior-level people go, despite the fact that Steve had told them that their jobs were secure. He quit UPI after he was told to let them go anyway. An avid reader, Steve was also known for his watercolor paintings and questionable golf game. Steve was preceded in death by his parents Harold (Hal) and Gayle. He is survived by his brother David, sister Susan, stepmother Jacquita and her family, and, of course, by his extended family of cousins and friends whom he loved and cherished, and who generously reciprocated in kind. In accordance with his wishes, donations can be made to Friends of Long Beach Animals, 3815 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807.