Susan Marie Erickson

1953 – 2026

Susan Marie “Sue” Erickson, our beloved oldest sister, passed away unexpectedly on November 2, 2026, in Sun City, Arizona. She was 73.

Born in 1953 in Queens, New York, to Joan and Roy Erickson, Sue grew up in Deer Park on Long Island. A gifted student with a lifelong love of learning, she graduated from Deer Park High School in 1971 and from Southampton College in 1975 with degrees in biology and marine biology.

After marrying in 1976, Sue headed to Fairbanks, Alaska, where she earned her master’s and doctorate at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In 1982 she entered the Oregon State University College of Veterinary Medicine and received her DVM in 1986. She spent more than three decades caring for animals as a veterinarian in California and Oregon.

In 2019 Sue retired and moved to Sun City to care for our father after our mother’s death. Dad passed in 2021. Her homes were always full of animals: horses, dogs, birds, guinea pigs, farm animals, and above all cats, especially black ones. In later years she took up astrophotography and became quite accomplished at it. A devoted student of World War II history, she led tours across Europe through the 1990s and early 2000s, and she admired the mountaineers of earlier eras.

Sue was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her siblings Roy, Robert (Bob), and Jane, and by her five cats: Mirah, Owen, Kaia, Tessa, and Louey.

To honor her memory, consider giving a black cat a loving home, or step outside on a clear night and look up