Steven Mark "Pete" Speier

Steven Mark Speier, known as Pete through his younger years, Steve through most of his adult life, and Pop Up when the grandchildren came along, passed away on August 4, 2026. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and moved to Michigan at an early age.

He attended North Muskegon High School, where he excelled in sports and was named an All-State quarterback. His football career included stops at the Air Force Academy, Grand Rapids Junior College (where he played in a game at the Wool Bowl), and Northern Michigan University. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Northern Michigan University and later earned his MBA from the Seidman Graduate School of Business.

Steve earned his CPA in 1975 and spent more than five decades working in public accounting, banking, commercial real estate, and bankruptcy administration. He served as president of a national real estate investment firm for seven years before being appointed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee in the Central District of California. His career required judgment, persistence, and the ability to work through complicated situations, qualities that carried into much of the rest of his life.

Raised by a World War II Marine, Pete came from a generation where feelings were not always expressed openly. He cared deeply, but more often showed it through what he did: providing, teaching, showing up, planning the next trip, and finding ways to bring people together. He always tried to give his family the best of himself in the way he knew how.

Pete shared an important chapter of his life with his first wife, Jane, with whom he raised their four children, Steven, Ellen, Paul, and Elizabeth. Those years included motorhome trips, visits with both sets of grandparents, Ivory soap baths in Lake Michigan, lessons in throwing the perfect spiral, and learning how to make a football Easter egg. There was usually something being taught along the way, sometimes about football, sometimes about travel, and sometimes about how to handle whatever life threw at you.

Later, Steve and Debbie built a life together that included family, travel, football, surfing, and raising Elijah.

His sense of adventure stayed with him. He completed a bucket list trip by taking a van across the country during what he called his “sabbatical,” attending as many football games as he could in one season. Friends and family joined him at different stops along the way, including Northern Michigan and several SEC games, while Debbie helped guide the trip from home as mission control.

After age 50, Steve took up surfing. That chapter came with a rusted Highlander that became his beach mobile, Beach Boys playing, McDonald’s coffee in hand, and time at his favorite surf break, Blackies. He loved giving surf lessons to the grandchildren and made it his mission to get them up and riding along Newport’s shores, usually with a hang ten sign waiting for them.

When the grandchildren came along, Steve became Pop Up. He made a point of getting them together, especially for ski trips, usually with McDonald’s, plenty of pictures, and everyone in the same place. It mattered to him that the grandchildren knew one another and had memories together as a family.

Whether it was football, skiing, surfing, travel, or simply figuring out what came next, he had a habit of teaching through experience. To different people at different times in his life, he was Pete, Steve, Dad, Pop Up, husband, father, brother, uncle, friend, coach, and teacher.

Steven was predeceased by his wife, Deborah Ann Nooney Speier. He is survived by his children, Steven M. Speier Jr., Ellen Speier, Paul Speier, Elizabeth Speier, and Elijah Speier. He is also survived by 11 grandchildren and his siblings, Donna Speier Bruce, Donald "Skip" E. Speier II, Paula Speier Green and her husband Curt, and Stacey Speier and his wife Michelle.

A Funeral Mass will be held at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church on October 1, 2026, at 1:00 p.m., followed by a private memorial service.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that charitable contributions be made in Steven’s name to the Alzheimer’s Association.