Arthur Russell Steinke

Dr. Arthur Russell Steinke of Oakdale, N.Y., a retired college professor, poet, and beloved father, father-in-law, grandfather, brother, and uncle, passed away on May 8, 2025 at the age of 90. The eldest son of a large, close-knit family from Long Island, Dr. Steinke’s proudest achievement and highest priority – amidst a lifetime dedicated to education, a passion for English literature, and a keen interest in the flora and fauna which inhabited the island where he spent a majority of his nine decades – was always his family.

Dr. Steinke was born in Glen Cove, N.Y. on August 20, 1934. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Islip village with his family. He patrolled the streets of Islip with his younger brothers, Paul and Peter, watched movies at the Islip theater on Main Street, and camped out at Knapp's Lake a time or two. It was at the Islip theater payphone where he learned that his sister, Sally, had just been born. Another brother, Alan, and a sister, Bonnie, would follow in due course. During his childhood, Dr. Steinke and his family often summered in Madison, Conn., where he once rescued his youngest brother, Alan, from peril after Alan fell off a dock and into an estuary of the Long Island Sound at high tide. One of Dr. Steinke’s earliest jobs was delivering newspapers for Newsday. He also worked as a golf caddy and bagged groceries at Bohack’s.

Dr. Steinke graduated from Valparaiso University with a major in political science and a minor in English literature. After earning a master’s degree from the State University of New York at Albany, Dr. Steinke earned a Ph.D. in English from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He also served in the United States Army from 1957-1959, during which time he was trained as a cryptographer and stationed in multiple locations in Europe.

While working as an English professor at Alfred University, Dr. Steinke met the woman who became his wife of more than 50 years, Roxane, who was a devoted mother and, most recently, worked as a school librarian at the Brentwood Union Free School District until she passed away in 2019. Dr. Steinke was a professor in the English department at Suffolk County Community College for many years. Dr. Steinke was also a professor of English literature at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Dr. Steinke authored and presented scholarly papers at numerous professional conferences about John Milton, Henry Vaughan, Joseph Conrad, Wallace Stevens, and Norman Mailer, among others. During Dr. Steinke’s tenure as editor of the Long Pond Review, a literary magazine, it was the recipient of several citations for Best Small Press by The Pushcart Prize. Dr. Steinke was also a recipient of a SUNY Creative Writing Fellowship and a Mellon Foundation Fellowship.

A talented poet, Dr. Steinke’s poetry has been published in numerous literary magazines. His book of poems, Tidelines, was published in 2017. The Great South Bay was an important inspiration for many of the poems in that book. Dr. Steinke continued writing poetry until shortly before his death and declared during his final days that he had only just recently penned his best poem yet.

In addition to his interests in teaching and writing poetry, Dr. Steinke was a voracious reader who was keenly fascinated by and inspired by nature, particularly the birds that lived on his native Long Island and that frequented its surrounding waters. He was a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees who passed his love of baseball on to his children and grandchildren. Dr. Steinke was a perfectionist and an epicure who avowed that he could taste the difference between a Maine lobster and those that came from neighboring states or from Canada. All of that being said, it cannot be understated that there was always one constant that was more important to Dr. Steinke than anything else: his family.

A resident of Oakdale, N.Y. for approximately 60 years, Dr. Steinke is predeceased by his wife Roxane, his parents, and three siblings. He is survived by his brother Alan F. Steinke of Massapequa, N.Y. and his sister Bonnie Finck of Chester, Va. as well as his three children and their spouses, Scott R. Steinke and daughter-in-law Carolyn Steinke of Islip Terrace, N.Y.; Jocelyn D. Steinke and son-in-law Larry Mallak of Ellington, Conn.; and Douglas J. Steinke and daughter-in-law Elizabeth Steinke of Darien, Conn. He is also survived by four grandchildren who he adored, Janelle Mallak of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Garrett Mallak of Denver, Co.; Nicholas Steinke of Darien, Conn.; and Margaret Steinke of Darien, Conn.