wow..I am in shock. Life is so fragile and short yet we fail to act accordingly. My prayers to his family. RIP Steve. Does anyone know if the fund has been set up for his children yet?

When I heard about Steve's passing, I have to admit that I went into a bit of a state of shock. No one deserves to die the way that Steve did. Taken out by a drunk in a fit of road rage. Steve was an innocent in the wrong place at the wrong time. His killer deserves the maximum that Washington State's laws allow. A valuable life in so many ways lost to stupidity... Two children who will not grow up with their old man giving them the guidance that fathers do and that they deserve.Steve was a good friend of AVSIM's and a friend of mine. He shared with us things that he probably should not have, but he knew that we would keep his confidence. On more than one occasion Steve provided us input that helped us provide a more objective view of the hobby and the state of affairs at Microsoft, especially at the time of the ACES shut down. Needless to say, Steve was a man who gained our respect and trust. He was both a character and a precense in our hobby, in all senses of the word. He was right up there with Richard Harvey, of the FLY team, in terms of his contribution and willingness to share.I hope that everyone who enjoys our hobby and honors those who so mightly contribute to it, will contribute to the educational fund that is being collected for his children. AVSIM will shortly contribute, and we would like to think that our community would too.

++1 Tom.A moving tribute well written, on behalf of those,who could not find the words you have written to honour the memory of somebody you and others at Avsim knew personally,far better than most of us have a chance to. Could you perhaps as the leader of this Forum write up an obituary to be posted in the late Mr.Lacey's local paper or elsewhere,on behalf of us, the broad church of the Avsim Community?Why do injustices like this happen time after time, when lives are unnecessarily snuffed out and innocent family,more so little children,left with such sad legacies?As I do not have a Chase bank near me, thank you for posting the PayPal link.