Stephen Robert West

Stephen Robert West, of Chestnut Hill (Philadelphia), Pennsylvania, died January 3, 2015, after being diagnosed with ALS in March 2009.  He was 63.

His life was remarkable for his unswayable choice to live graciously and openly with a fatal disease. His accomplishments as a Ph.D.  In sociology from the University of Virginia and as a market researcher and business consultant for the pharmaceutical industry gained him a large circle of respect and appreciation. Before he stopped working in 2012, he was a founding partner at the market research firm MSP Analytics in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.

Born in Oakridge, Tennessee on Dec. 3, 1951, Steve was the only child of the late Paul James West and the late (Ollie) Marie Wright. He was raised in nearby Chattanooga, Tennessee, and graduated in 1969 from Chattanooga High School.

Shortly after Steve’s high school graduation, more than 400 rescuers searched the Tennessee mountains for Steve after he fell hundreds of feet down from a cliff through two stories of trees while hiking with a friend.

After many hours alone, Steve was able to shift his unbroken hand to an opposite pocket and fire a pistol. The sound narrowed the search. Steve’s father wrote thank-you notes to the dozens of organizations which had worked together to save his son. Despite a broken femur, arm and more, Steve’s true regret was that he missed a ride to Woodstock, New York, on the week in 1969 when the iconic rock and roll festival captured the world.

Many threads first strung in Steve’s childhood continued to run throughout his life: He loved day hikes and fishing, as he had with his dad. Although he turned from his first academic love of sociology to research marketing after just five years teaching at Radnor University in Virginia, his lengthy reading list included societal research and he remained a political liberal throughout his life.

He was a lover of scary movies, having acted in a backyard film directed by his boyhood friend, Mark Pleasant, who went on to a career in filmmaking.  Steve’s appreciation of the outdoors eclipsed his sociological interests, and his hobby of large-format black and white photography captured branches, brambles, and rocks, as well as Bucks County, Pennsylvania landscapes.  The outdoors remained his comfort and joy throughout his illness.

Steve’s father was forbidden to go to college on a full scholarship because it would have taken him too far from home, and his mother only earned her undergraduate degree after Steve was in elementary school. Both parents earned degrees from Martin College, then a junior college, in Pulaski, Tennessee.

When Steve graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1972 with a degree in sociology and psychology, his parents were happy to see him continue on, earning a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Illinois in 1974 and a Doctorate in Sociology in 1980, with a thesis on deviant behavior, from the University of Virginia.

After three marriages ended in divorce, Steve married Pamela Anne Learned in May 2007, creating an extended family with his daughter by previous marriage, Reston Blumwest, of New York City, and stepchildren, Mark Register of Los Angeles, and Michelle Nicole Noonan (and her husband Tom) of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. He is also survived by his beloved granddaughter, Grace Learned Noonan, age 4.

Steve’s knowledge and recall seemed encyclopedic. “Ask Steve anything, and he will know the answer—or my mom will,” his step-son Mark Register, told friends. His daughter Reston counted on her dad to identify any bird, tree, frog or living thing that flickered before them.

Steve’s diagnosis came shortly before his second wedding anniversary with Pam. Asked if he was angry about his ALS diagnosis, he said, “If I said that I was angry, I’d have to deny all the good things in life that brought me to this place.” Similarly, Steve never viewed his life as a “fight” with the disease. Rather, he sought peace through insight meditation and choose to answer anyone who asked how he with an upbeat ” Can’t complain!”

Just as Steve was losing his ability to walk, granddaughter Grace was born in June 2010. Grace quickly was the more agile of the happy pair, with the toddler often scrambling into his lap to hug and kiss him. To remain available for any emergency, stepdaughter Michelle worked from home two days a week at her parent’s home, and Michelle and her husband Tom shared in Steve’s daily afternoon transfer from power wheelchair to bed. Their proximity kept Grace nearby, and her words: “I love you Grandpa,” made more than one difficult day with ALS far easier.

Steve relied on getting outdoors to keep his spirits high. The couple logged more than 300 miles traversing regional parks in Steve’s power wheelchair, which he acquired in December, 2011.

Pam and Steve loved to entertain, especially with an annual December holiday open hours. Dozens of these friends were hands-on helpers, caring for Steve when Pam needed respite.

Visitors were welcome in their home throughout Steve’s illness—for a wine tasting, a long talk on the porch that faced their street —with walkers by always welcome to join them—and mostly to enjoy many happy hours that were punctuated with Steve’s wry wit. The wit became more concentrated, but no less enjoyable, as talking became more difficult for Steve.

As ALS closed his world down and kept him mostly inside, Steve and Pam still entertained friends from their bedroom, dubbed the “Hospitality Suite.” Friends toasted him there on his December 3 birthday, neighbors caroled around his bed on Christmas Eve, and more friends toasted him at a family birthday party on December 27, 2014. On the eve of his January 3 death, his family, including 4-year old Grace, encircled him and spoke of their love and appreciation—Grace providing several big hugs that made Steve smile.

Memories of Steve will be celebrated with family and friends at the couple’s home Friday, January 9, 2015, from 4-8 p.m. Family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues are welcome.

Steve donated his brain and spinal cord for neurological research to the Pennsylvania Hospital ALS clinic. After cremation, his remains will be interred at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. Steve and his family remain deeply grateful for the uncommon support, counsel, and encouragement received by individual professionals of the ALS Association of Philadelphia and Holy Redeemer Hospice. Donation information, as well as videos and stories of the couple’s experience with ALS and hospice care can be found on each of these organization’s websites.