Forgive me for starting this with such a blatant cliché, but Steve had so many qualities that I admired:

• His intellect (which might be described as ‘towering’ or ‘preposterous’)

• His relentless energy

• His even more relentless optimism

• His depth-less curiosity

• His height (see ‘towering’) and dance moves (see ‘preposterous’)

But the thing about Steve that sticks with me most is the way he seemed so resolute and sure of who he was as an individual.

I have tried to be a thousand different people in my life and will likely need at least a few more attempts to figure it out. I imagine a lot of people are like that. Steve wasn’t.

In all the years I knew him – starting in grade 10 – and through the many incredible things he accomplished, Steve was always Steve. He always knew exactly who he was. He pulled this off not with any arrogance or self-importance but with the humility that comes from not feeling the need to prove anything. Whenever we’d catch up after not seeing one another in a while I never had to doubt or question the person across from me. He might have just been at a big conference with Barack Obama, or written up in the New York Times the week before, but none of that got to him. He was still the guy who wanted to talk about the furniture he was building or run off to some random rock and gem store he had found. He was still the guy who seemed more interested in what was happening in your life than parading out the excitement from his own.

That’s what I’ll remember most about him. That and the dancing - which really was something. I was lucky to be his friend and I’m glad to have had his example in my life.