Steve Sanders
The world’s supply of joy, heart and good humor took a steep drop with the passing of Steve Sanders.
Our beloved Steve died after a short illness at the age of 64 on June 7, 2025, in Austin.
A celebration of life will be at 11 a.m. on Sunday, July 20, at Esther’s Follies at 525 E. Sixth St. in Austin.
Steve had many dozens of friends – perhaps hundreds of them – and it’s no wonder. You’d be hard-pressed to find another person who was more genuine, more kind and more full of cheer as Steve.
Always ready with a broad smile and clever quips, he was the life of every party, and that’s saying a lot: Steve made it his business to attend hundreds of parties, festivals, concerts, balls and soirees during his lifetime.
While many of us define ourselves largely through our work, Steve’s life mission was simply to enjoy life through revelry and fellowship among friends. If total fun enjoyed in life could be measured in gallons, Steve’s fun sum total would fill Lady Bird Lake.
Steve was born on Sept. 11, 1960, in a community just outside Cleveland, Ohio. He and his family moved from Ohio to Port Aransas in 1969.
Steve attended elementary and middle school in Port Aransas, always serving as the consummate class clown. He graduated from Aransas Pass High School in 1979. (This was before Port Aransas had a high school.)
Steve was a radio-television film major at the University of Texas in the early 1980s and went on to live in Austin for the rest of his life, working at a variety of occupations. Over the years, he held positions with businesses including Apple, Dell, Hertz, Office Depot, Time Warner and other companies. His most recent employment was with Austin Energy, where he was named employee of the year not long ago.
Steve was most proud of his work in the entertainment field. He was involved in dozens of productions in television, film and theater. He did voice-over work for video games including Wing Commander IV, Bioforge and Crusader.
Comedy was Steve’s great love. He was a player in the renowned Esther’s Follies comedy group in the early 1990s. He also was a part of The Cheeze Pistols, Wide, Wide World of Comedy and Comedy Sportz – all improvisation groups.
Gifted in many ways, Steve did spot-on impressions of Humphrey Bogart, Darth Vader, Jerry Lewis and more. He also played keyboards and had a good singing voice.
Steve was predeceased by his biological father, Tom Fryan, and by his adopted father, Jay Sanders.
Steve is survived by his mother, Carolyn Silver of Austin; two sisters, Deborah Sanders- Zilberman of Provincetown, Mass., and Lisa (Mark) Richardson of Round Rock; brother-in-law James Rosenfeld; step-brother Tom Sanders of Houston; niece Emily (Brian) Buczynski; great-niece Kathryn Buczynski; nephew T.J. Sanders; nephew Eliot (Anna) Rosenfield with great nephew Oliver and great niece Lillian of San Francisco; nephew Zach Rosenfield of Boston; niece Libby Rosenfield of New York, with husband Eric Price; nephew Bryant Richardson; niece Kathryn Richardson; and Steve’s much-loved kitties, Nicki and Monkey.
For more than 20 years, Steve was a part of Valhalla, a “clan” that camped out together at the Texas Renaissance Festival and at the Sherwood Forest Faire each year. Steve considered his fellow Valhalla members to be like family, and they had many good times together.
Steve’s family asks that donations be made in his honor to the Rescu organization (rescufoundation.org), which was established to promote the health and medical well- being of participants at Renaissance Faires. Donations also may be made to Austin Pets Alive (austinpetsalive.org).
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