Steve was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, near the Braun family farm, to a Marine Corps family while his father was still serving in the Pacific Theatre, after surviving the sinking of the West Virginia at Pearl Harbor. Like most military families, they moved often, and Steve ended up graduating from Nicolet High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after arriving in his junior year. He was elected Senior Class Vice President, President of the National Honor Society, was in the top 10% of the class academically, and was on the varsity basketball and swim teams. When the recruiter from Stanford arrived in the dead of winter, his slideshow featured Palm Drive in bright sunlight. Steve asked when the photo was taken. With the answer of “February,” he immediately asked for an application. 

 

Steve was an Industrial Engineering major at Stanford, graduating in 1966, after spending a semester abroad at the Florence campus. This inspired his life-long love of Italy. Upon graduation, he joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to teach engineering at the Technological University of Pereira, Colombia, where they are still using the textbook he authored. He was fluent in Spanish and nearly flawless in Italian, adding immensely to his natural charm.

 

While in South America, rather than being drafted into the Army, he joined the Navy. He went to Officer Candidate School, served first at the Naval War College, and then on a patrol gunboat based in Guam and Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam. He returned to receive his Stanford MBA with the class of 1973.

 

His formal business career started with McKinsey & Co., where he spent almost four years on the road doing studies in Japan, Australia and Hot Springs, Arkansas. He then joined a McKinsey client, Four Phase Systems, and later moved to Itel Container. By this time, he had met Cristina on a blind date on January 16, 1978. They were married in San Francisco on January 17, 1981. As coincidence would have it, she was born in Florence, Italy, of an Italian American mother and a career Air Force father. They pooled their resources, quit their jobs and took an eight-month sabbatical in Europe, spending a majority of the time in their beloved Italy. Upon their return, Steve embarked on a career in commercial real estate, first with CPS, a full-service brokerage. In 1985, he started his own company, Real Estate Strategies (RES), where he advised tenants exclusively. He enjoyed ten years of owning his own business and working with great clients. In 1995, at the age of 51, Steve decided to take a break and see what other adventures life had to offer.

 

He had always loved motorcycles, but had a special place in his heart for his two Harley Davidsons. A great joy was the journey; he was an elaborate and precise planner of trips and was variously accompanied by a large number and range of companions — often the “Rolex Riders” — on tours of America, Australia, New Zealand, Morocco, Sicily, Italy, and the balance of Europe.

 

As the years flew by, Cristina’s work became her hobby and Steve’s hobbies became his work, and he found that the business of living large took up a lot of time. Whitewater kayaking the Salmon and Deschutes rivers, marathon running, marathon biking, traveling back to Colombia in 2008, and multiple trips with Cristina to Italy, France, Hawaii, Argentina, New York, Malibu, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Sydney, Switzerland... the list goes on. They were often accompanied on their travels by George, their happy and perfect dog, who is the 4th member of the Maltese dog chain of Corky, Ginger, and Freddy, all of whom brought them so much joy over their 35 years together.

 

Steve is survived by his wife, Cristina, and their precious dog, George; his beloved mother, Caroline “Carrie” Braun Bergren; his brother, Scott (Bama Rucker); his loving sister, Sue (Tim Budorick); Cristina’s brother, Ralph Morgan (Kelly) and their son Michael; Cristina’s sister, Gina Morgan; and his brother-in-law, Doug Kroft. He leaves Scott’s three daughters: Christine (James Orr) and their two sons; Casey (Dana White) and their three children; and Diana (Matt Fink) and their two children. He also leaves Sue and Tim’s children, John, Lauren, Kate, and Abby; his Aunt D.J. Turner; and many cousins.