Curt Stefan Steindler

Curt was born in El Segundo Hospital and grew up in San Pedro, California. He attended San Pedro High School, California State University-Dominguez Hills, and Boalt Hall - UC Berkeley School of Law, where he obtained his J.D. He had practiced law in Los Angeles since 1989. He was on the boards of the Reptile and Amphibian Rescue Network (www.rarn.org), had served on the Mar Vista Community Council, and for several years was CFO of CrashSpace, a makerspace in Los Angeles.

Curt and Sharon Diane King were married in 2001. Theirs was a joyous relationship, and they never stopped expressing their love for each other. Curt also adored his native city of Los Angeles. He and Sharon were never happier than when exploring the city's rich cultural legacy, from historic adobes and homes, to diverse ethnic neighborhoods with great art and wonderful food, to the marshes and meadows replete with native species scattered throughout the vast metropolis. Both within and without Los Angeles, Curt and Sharon found adventure everywhere. They especially enjoyed going to Hallowe'en haunts, attending theatrical performances (especially The Actors' Gang), visiting art museums (the Getty was a big favorite), going to events of the Casal dels Catalans de California (long-time members), and exploring maritime and marine environments up and down the coast. But they could find delight in a walk around the neighborhood, if they were doing it together. Curt loved fine wines and wine tasting, Ficklin port, which his father had introduced the family to, and good food—especially French, Italian, Spanish and Catalan dishes. The other great love of Curt's life was reptiles and amphibians. Besides being on the board of RARN, for many years he belonged to the Southwestern Herpetologists' Society, and had participated in many educational outreach events for both organizations over the decades. Curt and Sharon also kept many reptiles at home, at one point counting five animals in their scaly extended family. He had an especial fondness for prehensile-tailed skinks. One of his skinks even accompanied Curt and Sharon on their honeymoon.

Curt's varied hobbies included playing in a recorder orchestra, 3D printing, playing the theremin, gaming, learning languages (he was re-learning Esperanto), and celebrating all that pertains to the sciences and science fiction. After attending a number of academic conferences with Sharon, he began presenting scholarly papers of his own at his favorite conference, the International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts. One paper was on the possible personhood of robots and another, titled "Sea Captains in Space," was about the Hornblower novel series. Other passions included naval history, electronic music, pressed pennies, railroad and aviation history, early music (he especially favored the local group Jouyssance), performing medieval theater with his wife's troupe Les Enfans Sans Abri, staging the theatre of the Grand Guignol (at two Los Angeles World Science Fiction Conventions), and filmmaking. He had completed several short films in the past decade, and one of them, Plant Life, won Best Mockumentary in a film festival.

Curt is survived by his wife Sharon King, his brother Scott, his aunt Janet and cousins Margot and Jared Nineberg, nieces Claire and Molly and other nieces and nephews, and a host of friends in Los Angeles and around the globe. Sharon and Curt also include the Silvers as extended family, especially those based in Los Angeles--Barry and Janice Silver, and Aaron, Samantha, and Sydney Phillips. Curt and Sharon also counted as their "adjunct daughter" their friend Moupi Mukhopadhyay. Curt was predeceased by his parents, H. Kenneth and Miriam Nineberg Steindler, and older brother Robert.

In lieu of flowers, the family wishes donations to be made to RARN, at www.rarn.org

Checks made out to Reptile and Amphibian Rescue Network may be mailed to

Sharon King

11901 Santa Monica Blvd

STE 110 PMB 616

Los Angeles, CA 90025