Losses

"Dr. Flu" Steven R. Mostow '60

My brother Steve died March 25 in a private airplane crash near Denver. He was the pilot and was doing someone a favor. He loved to fly.

I was a freshman at Oberlin when Steve was a senior. He was a fun-loving jock and a serious pre-med student. He played "boogie" and sang new rock and roll songs on the dorm pianos. I still have his freshman beanie with Elvis' name inscribed on it. I remember Steve walking hand-in-hand with his love, Suzie Kosman. They married right after College and had two children.

Steve made it to med school at Case-Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He worked there as a faculty member and also as a staff physician at Cleveland Metro Hospital. He moved to Denver in 1976, where he worked at the VA hospital, the Rose Medical Center (where he chaired the Department of Medicine for many years), and as associate dean of outreach at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He was an avid skier and mountain hiker.

Steve became semi-famous. He was an infectious disease expert, and each year he publicized the latest strain of flu by giving flu shots to folks in newsworthy locations, such as Sen. Jesse Helms in the Senate anteroom, TV traffic reporters in their helicopters, and people on the Today Show. He was a great TV news performer.

Steve served as vice president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Last winter, he sat between Bill Gates and Jimmy Carter at an awards banquet. He introduced Carter, who presented the award to Gates.

Steve loved the rural medical outreach part of his life. He was paid to fly small planes to small towns and deal with real medical problems. He was a consultant, an expert, and an expeditor.

Steve's family connections to Oberlin are many: his wife Suzie '60, brother Nelson '69, sister Judy Mostow Filner '66, brother-in-law Dan Kosman '63, nephew Matt Filner '91, and niece Laura Mostow '02. He also leaves his daughter, son, and grandson.

–Ken Mastow '66