Jairdin Engen | Assistant News Editor
On Saturday October 12, retired Buena Vista University (BVU) marketing professor Dr. Steven Remington passed away at the age of 63 after a long-fought battle with prostrate cancer.
Remington retired last spring and then received emeritus status and was inducted into the Order of Cumberland and Tollefson at BVU, a distinction given to retiring faculty members who have shown exceptional service to the university. Remington came to BVU in 1999 after a teaching career in higher education at several other institutions. While in Storm Lake, he also served on the board for the Buena Vista County Historical Society where he was active in collecting living histories of WWII veterans in the area.
BVU community members remember Remington as having a witty way of offering humor to the lives of the faculty, staff, and students he worked with. They also recalled how truly dedicated he was to his profession and to the BVU community. He was often seen at campus athletic events supporting the Beavers.
“His personality will be missed, and who he was. It’s a sad thing,” Associate Professor of Marketing Scott Anderson, who worked with Remington as a colleague in the Harold Walter Siebens School of Business, said.
Remington worked with Anderson as a close colleague in the marketing program during his career at BVU. Anderson recalled the support Remington was always willing to provide colleagues.
“I completed my doctorate while I was working at BV,” Anderson said. “He was able to help me understand the research that I needed to do. He definitely helped me with statistical analysis of my project.”
According to Anderson, Remington was very involved in his field as well and had connections and professional friendships all over the country.
“We would be at these conferences and he was introducing me to the people who wrote my textbooks,” Anderson said.
Remington also liked golfing, hunting, and fishing, despite the difficulties encountered once he had to use a wheelchair. Nonetheless, there were never any complaints heard from Remington about his situation.
When it came to students, Remington was always very helpful.
“There will be a void in the school of business that only he could fill,” Anderson said. “He was challenging, funny, collegial. He was the guy in the School of Business that I could relate to from an academic standpoint the most, because we both studied the same subject area. I will definitely miss him.”
The visitation for Remington was on Wednesday, October 16, and the memorial service was held on Thursday, October 17 in Schaller Memorial Chapel on the BVU campus. A memorial fund has been established.
