Steven Lyn Roberts 1946-2025

With an unremitting love for life and those loved ones left behind, Steven Roberts departed,

taking his final breath in the morning of March 22, 2025.

He was born July 5, 1946, in Abilene Texas, the first child of Lon Donovan Roberts of Nugent,

Texas and Janice Marie Viox of Talmage, Nebraska. Don and Janice came of age as post-

depression America transitioned into World War II. The war would catapult them from their

close knit, small town lives into the greater world.

Barely out of adolescence, Don and Janice met at a USO party in Lincoln, Nebraska and

began their courtship. They’d reunite in San Francisco to marry in 1945 after Don had flown

twenty-one missions over Europe. Steve was born a year later, in Abilene, Texas, in 1946 at

the leading edge of the baby boomer generation. His birthright of being from a colorful and

resilient line of Texas pioneers was a lasting source of pride, evidenced by his fondness for

Stetson hats, cowboy boots and his own family history. He even pieced together a hybrid

New Yorker-Texan vernacular. But Texas was a transitory part of Steve’s childhood. With

America’s expanded presence on the world stage, life as a military family became a new

nomadic subculture in the post-war period. From Texas to Grand Island, Nebraska, where his

twin sisters Jean and Jan were born, to Panama City, Florida, Valdosta, Georgia and finally a

twenty-one day journey by ship to Japan, where Steve began the 4th grade in 1955.

Life as a military brat had its challenges but Steve was adventurous and outgoing. Kids of that

generation were more free to explore and Steve took full advantage. He once crawled under

the base fence to explore the nearby village at age 9, only a decade after the war. He caused

emergency responses by the fire department and even the base commander. It was the

fearlessness of youth which sometimes veered towards recklessness, that set a tone for his

young life. With time it would morph into his free-spirited, sometimes restless but always

curious nature.

From Japan the family moved to Topeka, Kansas, Lincoln, Nebraska then to Fayetteville,

Arkansas before finally landing at Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster, Missouri - a key

location in America’s strategic nuclear plan in the cold war. The last stop in a nomadic series

of locations all occurring within one year! But, for the next six years Steve and his family

would be stationary for the longest stretch yet for the young family. He became part of the

cool kids club in high school, according to his sister Jean, where his personality, friendships

and interests blossomed. His coolness was very much impressed upon his little sisters who

adored him and his friendships from this time continued for decades.

Growing up relatively untethered by connection to a hometown, religion (although his mother

tried) or a strict sense of social mores, Steve was free to formulate his own philosophical

approach to life. He was uninhibited and boundless in his explorations as a young man. His

passion for music and connection with other fearless seekers and pilgrims of the counter

culture became his religion early on and would largely remain intact throughout his life. Steve

was not recognizable as his fathers son - the quiet, disciplined, stoic, military man. He was

self-admittedly more like his mother, who he described as a “hot house flower!”. She was a

musical, dynamic, effusive woman who probably had show biz in mind had it not been

thwarted by the duties of a military wife and mother. Either because of or despite his nomadic

upbringing Steve was more of a rolling stone than either his parents or his sisters and

declared independence early on.

He was more likely to follow his curious heart and rely on his gut instinct and intellect rather

than a prescribed path into adulthood. He first tried college for a year in Warrensburg,

Missouri then joined the Air Force working as a lab technician. However, he was politely

asked to leave a little early owing to an unconfirmed account involving mushrooms. His friend

Danny recalled “We both landed in Milwaukee about the same time and became friends, then

good friends, then best friends. Music, politics, triumph motorcycles, tequila, weed,

psychedelics - damn the 70s almost killed us! We laughed, we cried, we danced, we talked,

we strummed our dreadnought guitars for hours on end.”

Around this time in the mid 70s, Steve met the love of his life, an equally independent and

creative woman named Karin Bowman. They met in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Although, she

would leave Wisconsin and Steven behind for a life in New York City. Steven recognized that

he had encountered someone extraordinary and, as he later recalled, “I did the sensible thing

- I went after her.” Eventually they’d settle in an apartment Manhattan, marry and start a

family.

In New York Steve found his way into a career in media working his way up at a post-

production house before landing at Teletronics studio on West 33rd St. As it happened Steve

was present at the fountainhead of a cultural moment as MTV went live in August of 1981 with

the broadcast of the prophetic first music video - Video Killed the Radio Star. By the time of

the launch Steve had worked his way up into the production side as a camera operator. The

newly launched MTV was still figuring it. They were experimenting and building a new format,

less rigid than the classic T.V. talk show. Steve’s friend Michael Pelech commented “it was

was an exciting time. We were close - it was a small, tight-knit cast and crew.” The crew even

occasionally participated on camera (see MTV Runaway Camera). By all accounts the work

ranged from chaotic, grueling, boring and even absurd but it was the launch of a new creative

form. His friend and colleague Chris Kelly recalled snapshots of Steve from the time

“standing behind his camera shooting VJ segments with his pants around his ankles.” He

added “I believe it was Steve’s silent protest.” In another moment Chris watched as Steve met

a musical hero “as he talked with Stevie Ray Vaughan, trading stories about Texas bars where

they had both played gigs.”

Steve’s next gig entailed frequent travel as the production manager of the road show for yet

another strange and awesome incident of American culture - the Worldwide Wrestling

Federation (WWF). Steve’s good friend Larry Rosen was both the Stage Manager at MTV and

moved on to WWF around the same time as Steve. Saying of the time ‘it was insane…70-hour

weeks, part sporting event, theater and ultimately the larger organization was a cult.’ Adding

“Steve was like an older brother. He was was one of the most influential people in my young

life. He was an introvert but so approachable and cool. We laughed a lot!” Through these

years Karin and Steve’s children Waylon (b. 1978) and Laura in (b. 1982’) were young. The

family moved from their upper west side apartment to a small village in the Hudson Valley, a

couple hours north of the city. Karin made a home, transforming an old farm house into a

beloved home with her own creative flourishes. She took care of the kids and held down the

home as Steve commuted on top of his seventy hour work weeks. It wasn’t easy but it was

the life they had built. Steve would later take a position as a producer at MSNBC where he

worked for the last years of his career. With his retirement he’d finally get a reprieve from

decades of commutes to New York City and airports for work on the road.

He still picked up freelance jobs shooting video, he had personal film projects, wrote music

and performed local gigs. Through all his professional years Steve collected an ever-

expanding circle of friends and co-creators. His friends Amy and Eric said of him “Along with

his family, friends, health & home, Steve’s music was paramount to him. And like his life, his

songs were filled with colorful characters and creative turns of phrase, that could only have

come from Steve.” His coworkers once gave Steve the affectionate nickname of “hot sauce”

because when collaborating creatively, Steve would often ask how we might put a little hot

sauce on it, to kick it up a notch. Or In response to the obvious he’d say, “Well yeah! If frogs

had shotguns, the snakes wouldn’t eat ‘em.” Chris said simply “he was my friend and I will

miss his honesty and faith in the goodness of people …and us laughing and telling tall tales

which I truly believe we’ll do down the line a bit.” And Danny added “Rest easy my friend this

songs for you…” He was loved as a brother, a husband, a father and a friend - a great, bright

and loving soul.

Like most of us, Steve’s story is one joy, pain, success and struggle. He found beauty in deep

connections with and love for his kids, friends and family. He was fascinated by the world of

knowledge and profoundly moved by art and music. He experienced the pain of loss which

left their marks and he left a lasting impression on those fortunate enough to know him. He is

survived by his children Laura and Waylon and his sister Jean.

In his final days, Steve reconned with his own mortality. His heart remained open, his sense

of humor intact, his love of life evident as his cIrcle of friends and family will testify.

The Pilgrim

“ He’s a poet, he’s a picker,

He’s a prophet, he’s a pusher

He’s a pilgrim and a preacher,

And a problem when he’s stoned

He’s a walking’ contradiction

Partly truth and partly fiction

Takin’ every wrong direction

On his lonely way back home”.

Kris Kristofferson

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