The “Into Tomorrow” family mourns the passing of former Advanced Media Network Vice-President and Technical Director, Steve Zeigler.
Steve was born on March 12th, 1944 in Pittsburgh, PA. He lived with his parents and brother, David near Sewickley, PA. Graduated from Quaker Valley High School in 1962. Then he attended electronics school and graduated with his FCC First Class Commercial Radio license in 1964. At age 20, Steve got his first job in radio at 1060-WHOF in Canton, Ohio. In June 1965, Uncle Sam called him into service for two years where he became a Military Police officer, and later opted to become a dog handler. The Vietnam war was raging at this time but Steve and his dog, ‘Duke’ were needed states-side. His permanent duty station was a small Nike missile base in Dillsboro, Indiana – population, 400 including the Army. The base was part of the Cincinnati Air Defense Command. Following the Army, Steve went back to the same radio station in Canton where he later met radio legend, Arthur Godfrey.
In 1969, his parents moved to Palm Beach, FL. In April 1970, Steve secured a new job in Miami at WIOD AM & FM where he worked for 27 years and earned a nice pension. At WIOD, Steve met many well know people, but the three that were at the top of his list were ‘Cousin Brucie’ Morrow, Paul Harvey and Buffalo Bob Smith. He also worked for the State of Florida for seven years, installing and teaching computers for blind people. He found this job personally, rewarding. Steve also went into national with the “Into Tomorrow Radio Network”, where he was instrumental in working with Dave to launch the network in 1996.
He retired in 2007 and moved to Venice, Florida. There, he found a beautiful corner of paradise at Woodmere apartments. The four ponds attracted ducks, turtles and an occasional small alligator. Of all the birds, the Sandhill Crane, at 2.5 feet tall, was most amazing to Steve. These huge birds literally walk along the sidewalks, as if they owned the property.
Many of you knew Steve from QV High School in Sewickly/Leetsdale, PA, others would know Steve from his US Army time as an MP with a Sentry dog. But most of you knew Steve in his broadcasting and computer work. Maybe it was 2002 when Steve became a pirate – no hook, no eye patch, no peg leg – just a few homebuilt computers. He downloaded over 2000 movies and over 8000 TV shows and documentaries. Over time the picture quality got better and better, thus the file sizes grew and grew. He had nearly 40 hard drives full of this material, and everything had a back-up copy.
On those special days, each year, people walking past Steve’s apartment would see the American flag – many two or three on his lanai.
He will be missed by all who knew him. Steve, we will see you… Into Tomorrow.
Without Steve, the world is a bit less of a nice place to live in. Steve was an excellent person and he will be sorely missed by many! Rest in Peace, Steve!!!!