On March 26th, one of our longest standing members, Steve Eisner, passed away after a long illness. The following are a few words from our officers that knew him best:
When we as aviation researchers, historians, military veterans, etc., lose a likeminded friend or colleague, we usually attempt to apply some catch phrase to the event, such as “slipped the surly bonds.” I can’t recall any cliché that really fits with the passing of Steven D. Eisner who died March 26, 2023, from health problems. He was born on Pearl Harbor Day in 1947.
He was many things to me and to the F-4 Society. Steve was a long-time member, mentor, guru and dedicated supporter to help further our objectives and increase our membership rolls. The knowledge he possessed of all foreign and domestic versions of the aircraft was extraordinary and he shared it whenever asked. It seems his personal library held every book, magazine article, McDonnell Douglas company brochure and literature, prospective foreign details/variant, flight manual, etc., ever printed.
It seems like forever ago that I met Steve at a PhanCon long past (1988?) He was a funny, gregarious, outgoing guy and had a great multitude of friends and connections with military and civilian groups. I know scores of people will miss him.
The last time I saw Steve was at the final full Society gathering in the USA — PhanCon 2016 — at Alamogordo/Holloman AFB where he was selling some of his F-4 toys as a vendor. At that time, he was already suffering some effects of the disease that took his life. Even with this, he was the same affable and genial gentleman I’ll always remember.