We got familiar with Steve in International Geographical Union Commission meetings, first time probably in Spain and Portugal in 1998. We soon noticed that we are “soul mates”, with several common interests also outside the discipline of geography, like nature (and vine & bier!). During the years we met several times in those annual meetings, e.g. in Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Croatia. A nice memory is when Steve drove from his home with his old Toyota to a meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He had with him a good selection of products from the vineyard where he was a partner. We appreciated and enjoyed that a lot…
Steve visited twice here in Oulu, Northern Finland. Jarmo took him fishing in his Pike Hill “farm”, a roadless and abandoned but still habitable place in the middle of wild nature. Jarmo took Steve also to a tour to Finnish Lapland, Northern Norway and Sweden. Steve helped us several times with our papers, commented our presentations and told us a lot on the academic world of US.
Last time we all three met together was in Dubrovnik, Croatia in the August of 2012. In the April of 2013 Steve hosted Toivo for two days with his car in Joshua Tree National Park, prior to the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in LA. Sometimes we phoned each other. Jarmo had a chat with Steve via Skype only two weeks before his passing. They agreed to be in touch again in a month.
Steve invited us many times to visit his home, but now it will never happen. In the coming years we'll have to settle for all the good memories on the times we spent together. We have lost a friend.
Toivo Muilu and Jarmo Rusanen
Oulu, Finland