Obituary of Steve L. Suddjian

Steve L. Suddjian, San Francisco native and long time Palo Alto resident, passed away peacefully on November 30 at age 87. Steve was the fifth of six children born to immigrant parents Levon Suddjian and Anoosh Shirinian. Although he lived in several different homes in Redwood City, the most notable was located at 2915 El Camino Real. Steve's father built the structure with the family run green grocery on the first floor and the family living quarters on the second. The building later became a restaurant; first run by the Fabbro family and now known as John Bentley's. Steve enjoyed celebrating one of his birthdays in what was once his family's living and dining room and is now a private party room. Steve started school at Garfield Elementary and in later life he enjoyed pointing out that he kissed his first girlfriend under the palm tree that still stands in front of the school. During the Depression, Steve's family moved to Watsonville, where he and his younger brother Art were fond of sneaking into the strawberry fields and crawling down the rows, eating strawberries along the way. In the early 1940's the family moved to Fresno. Following his mother's death, Steve moved out of the family home and supported himself, while finishing high school. Steve graduated from Fresno Technical High School at the top of his class. He participated in extra curricular activities, but excelled as a dancer and was very popular with the girls, who named him "snake hips." Immediately following graduation, Steve enlisted in the Army Air Corps and trained as a pilot in San Marcos, TX. He returned to San Marcos October 2011 to celebrate his birthday and to see how his old "stomping grounds" had changed. After World War II Steve left the Air Force and joined the Civil Service, teaching members of the military how to track weather balloons and later was an instructor in advanced electronics at Keio University near Yokohama. Steve took up racing cars in Japan, and won many awards with his MG. In 1948 he joined Philco as a "Tech Rep" and was assigned to the Air Weather Service, Air Force, Japan. In 1952 he became a field engineer, installing some of the first microwave towers in various parts of the world, including such exciting places as Japan, Greenland and even Kalispell, MT! In 1954 Steve married Joan Roth in Philadelphia, PA. In 1956 he joined Lambda Pacific Engineering and moved to southern California. In 1958 he rejoined Philco's Western Development Laboratories in Redwood City, which later relocated to Palo Alto. Steve and Joan bought a home in Palo Alto, where they raised their three sons: Mark, Keith and David Sadly, Joan passed away in 2010. In 1969 Steve went into real estate, and was a Realtor for over 40 years. He served as president of the Palo Alto Board of Realtors and received their Realtor of the Year Award in 1982. He was a Vice President of Cornish & Carey Real Estate and managed their Middlefield Road office. Steve was also associated with the development firm of Rogers and Brook of Los Altos, building 100s of homes throughout the mid-peninsula, including Los Altos, Palo Alto, Redwood City, and a major townhome development in Sunnyvale. Steve and Nancy Yeend were married in 1988 in Big Sur, CA. Nancy's daughter, Erica, joined them at their home in Palo Alto. After retiring from real estate, Steve and Nancy traveled and enjoyed their seven grandchildren. Steve is survived by his wife Nancy; sons Mark, Keith and David; stepdaughter Erica Ward; daughters in-law Margaret and Susan; son in-law Mike Ward, and seven grandchildren: Michelle, Aaron, Cindy, Michael, Stephen, M.J. and Jack. Family and many friends gathered on January 14, 2012 to celebrate Steve's life at the Garden Court Hotel, Palo Alto, CA. Donations in Steve's memory may be made to the California Armenian Home (6720 East Kings Canyon road, Fresno, CA 93727), Yosemite Foundation (101 Montgomery Street, Suite 1700, San Francisco, CA 94104), Avenidas Rose Kleiner Senior Day Health Center, (270 Escuela Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94040) or Santa Clara County chapter of the Audubon Society (22221 McClellen Road, Cupertino, CA 95014).




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