Russ Steinke, SCCC English professor and Oakdale poet, dies at 90

Oakdale poet and English professor Russ Steinke was the son, brother and brother-in-law of Lutheran ministers. While he himself was not called to the ministry, his life seemed to echo a quote often misattributed to Martin Luther: "God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars."

Steinke, who died of natural causes on May 8 at Stony Brook University Hospital at age 90, evinced "a keen interest in the flora and fauna that inhabited the Island, where he spent a majority of his nine decades," said his youngest child, attorney Doug Steinke, of Darien, Connecticut. "He enjoyed being out in nature and watching the ospreys and herons and other birds for hours, and drawing inspiration from nature that would end up being part of his poems."

A Suffolk County Community College professor from 1962 to 2002, Russ Steinke saw his poetry published in such small-press and university journals as The Comstock Review, Descant, Pembroke Magazine and Southern Poetry Review, according to Finishing Line Press, publisher of Steinke’s 2017 collection, "Tidelines." Steinke was among the editors of the now-defunct Long Pond Review, a literary magazine produced by the English department of his college.

"He made words dance," said his lifelong friend Albert Jabs, of Lexington, South Carolina. "He was a mentor of mine. His vocabulary was outstanding, and I learned words from him. He knew the nuances of various ways of expressing a point of view."

Yet family was foremost, his son said. "We spent a lot of time together at family gatherings," Doug Steinke said. "Family was always priority No. 1 for my father." That included taking the kids to a lot of Yankees games. "My father grew up a Yankees fan. His father was a Yankees fan, so it was kind of passed down from generation to generation."

Born Arthur Russell Steinke — going by A. Russell Steinke for his author byline — in Glen Cove on Aug. 20, 1934, he was the oldest of six children of Marguerite Frankel Steinke and the Rev. Arthur F. Steinke. His father was a minister who served three Long Island congregations, was an editor of the magazine The Christian Advocate and helped found the nationwide developmental disability organization now known as The Arc.

Raised mostly in Islip, Russ Steinke grew up delivering Newsday, caddying at Suffolk County Parks’ Timber Point Golf Course in Great River, and bagging groceries at a Bohack supermarket. His parents later moved their brood to upstate Elsmere, near Albany.

Steinke received a bachelor’s degree from Indiana’s Valparaiso University in 1956, then served in the U.S. Army in Europe as a cryptographer, his family said. He returned to earn a master’s in education from what is now the University at Albany in 1960. He began his teaching career at what is now Alfred University in upstate Alfred, before joining Suffolk County Community College. He received his Ph.D. in 1977 from what is now Stony Brook University.

He married Roxane Sprague Darch in 1962 and the couple soon settled in Oakdale.

In addition to teaching, Steinke gave poetry readings, contributed to workshops throughout the Island, including at the Westhampton Writers Festival in 1989, and spoke at education conventions. He was awarded a 1982 SUNY Faculty Research Fellowship to write a sequence of poems "in response to Twentieth Century American paintings," his college announced at the time. In August, the Town of Islip presented him with a citation for his body of work and contributions to the community.

In addition to his son Doug, he is survived by his son Scott R. Steinke, of Islip Terrace; daughter Jocelyn D. Steinke, of Ellington, Connecticut; brother Alan F. Steinke, of Massapequa; sister Bonnie Finck, of Chester, Virginia; and four grandchildren. His wife and three siblings predeceased him.

Services were private. He was interred at St. Ann’s Episcopal Cemetery in Sayville. Donations may be made to the National Audubon Society, Lutheran Church Charities or Save the Great South Bay.