Steven Sanders

Steven Sanders, 58, of Los Altos, CA, beloved husband and father and a bay-area scientist who specialized in applied physics and optics, died May 26, 2022.

Born in New York City, Steve grew up on Long Island in Great Neck, New York. He graduated from Yale in 1986, majoring in Physics and received a PhD in Applied Physics from Caltech. He met his wife Leslie during his first year in graduate school in California and they moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1993 and were married in 1995.

Early in his life Steve was a stand-out student at Great Neck South High school and interested in all things technical and scientific, eventually building a career in the field of optical networks and telecommunications. He started one of the first personal computer software/game companies with close friends in high school, with their first game a version of Monopoly.

Steve adored travel particularly with his family, taking them to places like Iceland, Belize, Costa Rica, Alaska, Peru, and many beloved trips to Hawaii. He adored his family, securing opportunities for seeing the world together, camping trips, skiing, and always an eager volunteer and supporter at his kids school activities. He was a proud gardener of very large zucchinis and amazing artichokes, caretaker of our aquatic turtle, and played the piano and ukulele. Steve was a longtime fan of both playing and watching basketball, and embraced the NBA teams of his adopted state of CA. He had a love of all animals and was a devoted dog-dad and longtime supporter of animal rescue and the Silicon Valley humane society.

Steve is survived by family who miss him dearly, including his wife Leslie, son Jeremy and daughter Hailey, mother Arlette, brother Michael and his family, sister-in-law Leslie and her family, mother-in-law Jean, and many devoted colleagues and longtime friends.

Please consider memorial contributions in Steve's honor to Best Friends Animal Society (https://bestfriends.org) or NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness (https://www.nami.org).

Please note that at this time one NY-based remembrance event is scheduled. We will use this site to communicate any additional events as they are planned. Please feel free to share thoughts, memories, and photos of Steve below.