Steven Charles Keller

Steven Charles Keller, 68, passed away on April 29, 2024 following a prolonged battle with metastatic melanoma, a battle he fought with courage, grace and quiet dignity. Steve was born on June 7, 1955 in Detroit, Michigan, to Eleanor Ana and Henry ("Hank") Victor Keller. He was the third of three sons, joining William "Bill" and Paul. Before Steve began elementary school, the Keller family relocated to Los Angeles, California, to be closer to Steve's beloved maternal grandmother and Babcia, Sally Klakulak. From an early age, Steve loved to cook with Sally and Eleanor, learning from them how to make the Polish dishes at the center of the holiday traditions he so enjoyed. In later life, took great delight bringing the Kellers and Kubiaks together over his many culinary creations.

Steve and his two brothers William "Bill" and Paul attended Loyola High School and worked part-time in the family's Foster Freeze business where they negotiated not infrequent pay raises with their Mom. Growing up, Steve and his brothers also enjoyed many happy annual fishing trips to the Sierra Nevada with Hank, a tradition that the next generation of Kellers carries on to this day.

Steve attended The University of Southern California where he majored in economics and deepened his lifelong passion for classical music, and went on to Columbia Law School where he obtained his Juris Doctor. A gifted and versatile lawyer, he practiced for several decades in Los Angeles, San Francisco and the Silicon Valley, initially as a defense-side litigator, and later as an advisor to fund investors.

He proposed to his beloved wife, Ellen Kubiak, outside Notre Dame in Paris. The two married the following year in Santa Maria Novella in Florence. For their wedding Mass, Steve arranged for an a capella choir to sing Renaissance selections composed during the same period as the frescoes on the chapel where they exchanged their vows. The couple went on to raise Adam, the joy of their married life. Steve took particular delight and pride in being a father and tucked away special keepsakes to share with Adam from the year of his birth.

Steve was never as happy as when reconnecting with his extended family for the holidays or travelling with Ellen and Adam to a new destination. He devoted endless research to filling each of these trips with special delights he had discovered--a side chapel in a Catholic church where an obscure saint was venerated, a visit to the grave of a musician or artist he admired, a detour to admire a Raphael he wanted his family to see. And of course, the food--the out-of-the way restaurants where a famous dish had been invented, and the local markets where he could collect prized and rare ingredients. Steve's kitchen was always a cornucopia of these treasures he'd imported himself, each of them a testimony, too, to his skills in persuading dubious customs officials not to confiscate them.

Just as Steve cherished his family and his friends, Steve forever will be loved. He was predeceased by his parents and his brother Bill. He is survived by his wife, Ellen; his son, Adam; his brother, Paul; his sister-in-law, Shannon; his brothers-in-law, Christopher (Jackie) and Paul (Melinda); his nephews Thomas (Rachel), Daniel (Danielle), Michael, David (Gabrielle), Edwin, John and Peter; his nieces Erin (Steven) and Jillian (Jason) as well as great-nephews Luke, John, Joseph, Damien and great-nieces Sophia, Madeleine, Olivia, Elizabeth and Juliana.

The Keller family thanks the doctors, nurses and clinical trial staff at California Pacific Medical Center and Stanford Medical Center for their unrelenting compassion, optimism, humanity and skill. We are forever grateful to you for all the added time that you were able to afford Steve and our beautiful family.

Friends and family may visit to celebrate Steve's life on Tuesday May 28, 2024 from 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. at Todd Memorial Chapel, 570 N. Garey Avenue, Pomona, where a Vigil Service and Rosary will be held at 6:30 p.m. The funeral Mass will be celebrated Wednesday May 29, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. at Holy Name of Mary Church, 724 E. Bonita Avenue, San Dimas. Interment will follow at 12:00 p.m. at Forest Lawn Covina Hills (Divine Shelter), 21300 Via Verde Drive, Covina.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.