Roger L. Steele

BEAUFORT, SOUTH CAROLINA - Roger Lee Steele died on Saturday, August 4, 2012, of cardiac arrest at his home.





Roger was born on June 12, 1945, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the son of Virgle E. Steele and Ellen Davis Steele. For much of his youth he travelled, with his military family, throughout the United States and abroad eventually settling in Wichita Falls, Texas, where he completed high school.





Roger did his first year of college at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, and then graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education from Midwestern State University in 1969. In that same year he was married to Cheryl A. Wearth.





In 1970 Roger entered the United States Marine Corps.  After training on the west coast, he received orders to MCAS, Beaufort, SC.  After his tour, Roger enrolled in Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and was awarded a Master in Fine Arts in printmaking in 1974. Thereafter Roger and Cheryl returned to Beaufort.





Roger was hired by the Department of Defense to teach art at Laurel Bay Schools, and at the same time, was also hired by the University of South Carolina, as an Adjunct Professor, to teach studio art. In this capacity he taught thousands of students the essentials of drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture. At the same time Roger was producing art--color-blend lithography--on his own in his studio.  This work was well received and was exhibited in shows throughout the US. In 1980, his work was part of an exchange between the Soviet Union and the United States. Today his work can be found in the permanent collections of Chase Manhattan Bank, the Library of Congress, Gibbes Art Museum, the USAA headquarters, South Carolina State Museum and many other civic, corporate and private venues.





Roger was a founding member of the Southern Graphics Council and in this capacity was tireless in his promotion of and passion for printmaking. He travelled throughout the United States giving lectures and demonstrations on color-blend technique.  He was a consistent donor of his art when it came to charitable fund raising (Evening of the Arts, Heroes on Horseback, Artscapade, etc.) and a reliable resource when it came to art, posters or graphics for the Beaufort Hospital, Beaufort Reading Council, Historic Beaufort Foundation, Main Street, Beaufort History Museum, and the on-going effort to keep the military bases in Beaufort.





Roger was a positive force in Beaufort County and will be missed by his students, many of whom got into colleges or advanced art programs because of his help. He will be remembered by his teaching colleagues, and those who knew him as a kind, generous, giving person who did not know how to say 'no'.





Roger was predeceased by his father, and a sister, Kathryn Steele. He is survived by his wife, Cheryl A Steele; his mother, Ellen Davis Steele, of Brevard, NC; his brother, Byron E Steele, his wife Marilyn, and their children Justin L. Steele (Jennifer) and Kady Steele, of Atlanta and Dallas; his sister, Peggy Steele Taylor, her husband Adrain, and their children, Barclay Reed Taylor and Chilton Grace Taylor, of Atlanta.





A memorial service will be held Saturday, August 11, 2012, at 11:00, at the Performing Arts Center on the campus of USCB.





In lieu of flowers, donations  to the Roger Steele art scholarship may be made to the University of South Carolina Beaufort, designating the Roger L. Steele Scholarship Fund, and mailed to USCB Development Office, One University Boulevard, Bluffton, SC 29909.