It's with a terribly heavy heart that I spread the news of my brother's sudden passing.
Steve Anderson suffered a heart attack on Friday, and was unable to be resuscitated. The only grace of this tragedy is that it occurred as he was returning from Santa Cruz Island, where he and his wonderful wife Kerry spent a glorious day hiking and celebrating their 27th wedding anniversary.
Steve was a fixture in the Southern California automotive world, having graduated from Art Center majoring in transportation design and taking up positions with VW, Nissan, GM, and most recently Audi. His professional legacy includes work involving the Concept One/New Beetle, 350Z, Solstice, Jay Leno's turbine car, and countless concept cars that never made it to market. The automotive design world knew him well and is reeling from his loss.
Steve's design talent didn't rest when he went home for the day, instead he spent his evenings drawing custom illustrations for clients, and series documentation that were a mainstay of the market reports for Excellence and Forza magazines. He contributed illustrations that were difficult to discern from photography, such was his attention to detail, for books such as British Racing Green. His latest involvement was with 000 magazine, and he was thrilled to be a part of it. The series prints he created for this moonlight business, Steve Anderson Illustrations, dedicated to the history of Porsche and Ferrari models, can still be found for sale on our favorite enthusiast retailers.
Steve had an eclectic taste in the car he owned for fun, never more than one at a time, and rarely held onto for more than a few years. What started with a '80 911SC Weissach Edition, evolved into a '74 Carrera, and then a '69 911S SWT. His affinity for Porsches was always there, but he dabbled in other marques, owning an early M Coupe, an LP400, a flat-floor E-Type, Jim Clark Edition Elise, Rolls Corniche, Rover D90, and the current D110.
It goes without saying that he got me into the early 911 world, helping me locate my '70 911E in 1999, and introducing me to many of the guys he knew like Cris, Freeman, Kevin, Chuck, Frank, Pete, and many others.
Steve is survived by his college sweetheart Kerry, and his five beautiful children. As a family we are still grieving and working through it all, and the support expressed has been amazingly indicative of how many people his work and life touched. A service in his memory will be held on Friday in Ojai; if you knew him and need the details, please feel free to contact me directly.
Rest In Peace, Stretch.
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