Steven Shaw

[SG-]

So sad to read this recent news in the NY times. Steven (and egullet) was definitely one of the early pioneers of food-centric internet sites.

 

I've learnt so much over the years from this site and members back in the 'early' days when being a foodie was not a cool moniker. Even had the opportunity of exchanging posts over the years with Steven and once with Bourdain too!! 

 

My deepest condolences to his family for their loss.

 

RIP Fat Guy 

[raisab]

We are all crawling out of the woodworks to payout respect, I wish we had done it sooner. Thank you Steven and Jason for this site...it opened up a new world for me.

[Darcie B]

Like many others who have posted their condolences, I haven't been on eG much recently, but I owe a debt to Steven and the entire eG community. This place was among the first where I felt a sense of community online; I met so many good friends and learned so much. My sympathies go out to Steven's family and friends.

[Alex]

Echoing Lady T et al., It feels good to see many of the old names, and to know you're still around. It reminds me of my family's funerals--which is appropriate, I guess, as we were a kind of eGullet family, complete with disputes, friendships, growth, common bonds, and annual reunions.

[Priscilla]

As the many tributes here and in MSM note, using new tools that few understood or paid much mind Steven Shaw invented something that hadn't existed before―a thing that, like all good ideas whose time has come, quickly grew bigger, and different, than its creator imagined. True invention and big ideas are like that, not entirely predictable or controllable. And, rare.

 

Generosity is as rare, isn't it? SS gave so much to so many―never stopping, really. In my mind that edges out the prescient food-chat-site impresario as Most Important. Wish we could have met in person―I certainly assumed we would, someday―but I don't owe him any less for only being correspondents.

 

My deepest condolences to Ellen and their child.

[Dave the Cook]

I've assembled a list of tributes to Steven; like this topic, an amazing response to the untimely death of an amazing man.

 

Some of these were posted earlier in this topic (thank you!), some I found, and some were forwarded by kind people. I'm sure it's an incomplete list; if you have other links, please PM me and I'll add them.

 

Eater National

 

Eater Montreal

 

The Daily Meal: 

 

NOLA.com

 

Delaware Online

 

Invision

 

GrubStreet

 

Amateur Gourmet: 

 

Quirky

 

LawCrossing

 

John Sconzo

 

Ottawa CItizen

 

Off the Broiler

 

Eating Las Vegas

 

lohudblogs

 

Charlotte Observer

 

Modernist Cuisine

 

NYTimes

 

Tasty Travails

 

Hungry Sofia

[ivan]

As the many tributes here and in MSM note, using new tools that few understood or paid much mind Steven Shaw invented something that hadn't existed before―a thing that, like all good ideas whose time has come, quickly grew bigger, and different, than its creator imagined. True invention and big ideas are like that, not entirely predictable or controllable. And, rare.

 

Generosity is as rare, isn't it? SS gave so much to so many―never stopping, really. In my mind that edges out the prescient food-chat-site impresario as Most Important. Wish we could have met in person―I certainly assumed we would, someday―but I don't owe him any less for only being correspondents.

 

My deepest condolences to Ellen and their child.

 

Impresario! THAT's the word I was looking for.

 

Steven Shaw, Internet Impresario.

[Hest88]

Like many here, I have been away from eGullet for many years. The news comes as quite a shock, and I'd like to send my heartfelt condolences to those of you who were lucky enough to have known him in person.

[Sandra Levine]

I, too, have been away many years. As others have said, it is because of Steve, through eGullet, that I made many new acquaintances, some of whom have become real friends.  Steve gave so much to so many people.  He did not have a long life, but it was a rich one.  My condolences to Ellen and PJ.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Sandra Levine (log)

[chezcherie]

terrible news.

what a community he was part of creating. scrolling through the thread brought back so many memories--oh, there's mayhaw man! varmint! andiesenjie! and on and on...

i hope it was quick, and that he had eaten well that day. 

sincerest prayers and condolence to the shaw family. so, so sad.

[cdh]

The reunion effect on this thread is nice...  pity it took something like this to make it happen.  Raising a glass to Steven this evening in honor of his community building prowess.

[Steve R.]

To make this even more jaw droppingly unreal, I just learned (from the NYT Obit.) that Steven's late father was someone I knew a long time ago as well.  He was an English Professor at Stony Brook when I was there getting my BA in English Lit. and I spoke with him often during my 4 years there.  Steven was born 3 months before I got there and was a toddler.  I'm a little taken aback by this… I never connected the two.  So sad.  

[cmling]

I just read the terrible news. I am deeply sad and will miss him, although we never met in person. We did have a bit of correspondence though which I now cherish in retrospect.

I have been here for a long time; I believe this was the first website about food that I read regularly - and I always enjoyed the reading.

We are all indebted to him and remember him fondly. That is a fine monument.

[Kerry Beal]

So here he is - still doing it - bringing us all together!  In spite of the sadness I feel - I'm enjoying the blast from the past brought on by all the folks posting for the first time in years.  

 

I shall miss the opportunity to chat with him again - but mostly I'm hurting for Ellen and PJ and FG's mom.  I couldn't help but think about travels with Ellen, PJ's special lunches and Steven's weekend shopping with his mom and realize what a hole will be left in their lives.   

[docsconz]

It's tragically unfortunate that Steven is unable to read all of the warm sentiments written here and elsewhere. It is too late for that, but it is not too late for Jason Perlow, who co-founded and built eGullet with Steven and for all of the other people who helped build this community to read the descriptions of what eGullet has meant to all of us. To Jason, Dave, Chris and the many others who built, maintained and grew this site that allowed so many relationships and people to flourish, a great heartfelt THANK YOU!

 

Like for many others, this thread has brought back many wonderful memories. Thank you all for those!

[Lisa Shock]

I've really been broken up over this for the past few days. I have an IT background, and Steven and I had some email exchanges about technical things that I'm currently working on and getting reminded of him, and anyway, it's still so hard to believe that he's just gone.

 

I am thinking that I am going to get my act together in a couple of days and start working in earnest on the WikiGullet project again. I think Steven wanted us to have a permanent, easy to use reference guide covering all sorts of food (and sanitation) topics. -Something for the world to use, built by combining the vast wealth of knowledge and experience that we share as a group. I grew up poring over the Larousse Gastronomique, a thick volume with tiny print, and now, I am amazed at how superficial that work appears compared to our advancing knowledge of the science of cooking and foods. There currently isn't just one great place for accurate information anymore. But, there could be and we could help build it.

 

I had been trying to think of something appropriate to do in Steven's memory, and I think that working on WikiGullet will turn out to be the most appropriate choice.

[Karen Resta]

I'm one of you who is here unexpectedly. It's been quite a while.

 

I heard of Fat Guy's passing and was shocked, of course. He was too young, with too much left to offer the world.

 

His actual age surprised me, really - for I thought of him as being older than I am . . .  as I was so often in the role of troublemaker and he in the role of managing the troublemakers. Too young for this to happen.

 

At first I had no thought of checking at eGullet. But then, among other thoughts about who he'd 'been to me' following this news (for when a person who has *done* something, *been* something, passes on, if one doesn't have thoughts beyond 'so sad' then there's a certain depth lacking in the recipe) I realized that regardless of the fact he and I had never become boon companions (but rather, in ways, at separate poles on many things) that he'd left behind a net of things which had affected me . . . and 'affect' can be personal growth when taken up, tossed around, and stirred to simmering.

 

He also gifted me with unexpected pleasures. I knew of his passing from one friend on facebook I met here at eG. Another friend on facebook whom I met at eG PM'd me to tell me of this thread.

 

And there are other friends, relationships, memories, gifts of learning, acquaintances, knowledges, maybe even wisdoms - rich invisible gifts, spectacular really in their own forms - which would not have existed for me had Steven Shaw not done what he did with eG and been who he was as Steven Shaw.

 

Condolences to his loved ones.

 

We were all lucky to have had him here.

 

Karen aka 'Carrot Top'

Edited April 12, 2014 by Karen Resta (log)

[janeer]

Here is the NYT obit for Steven Shaw, which I didn't see posted.

[rgruby]

I too am someone who rarely posts here anymore. I think my last one may have been to wish Steven well when he retired  from here. But despite that, I still check what's going on in egullet land almost every day. So thank you Steven, and Jason, for building something that has been an important part of my, and many, many other people's lives.

 

My condolences to Steven's family, friends, and colleagues.

 

Geoff 

[Behemoth]

Another long lost member signing in to express my sadness. I found eGullet back in 2003 and spent a good weekend just reading everything and feeling increasingly excited that I wasn't the only freak who tried out 16 different pizza dough recipes and still wasn't happy with the results. I also owe eGullet the surreal experience of exchanging direct messages with some of my favorite food writers...not to mention the wonderful friendships I've made online and off as a result of the site. Thanks Steven. 

[johnnyd]

So here he is - still doing it - bringing us all together!  In spite of the sadness I feel - I'm enjoying the blast from the past brought on by all the folks posting for the first time in years.

 

 

You nailed it Kelly Beal!

 

It took me a couple days to get around to Fridays NYT so when I got to Stevens obit this morning I leapt out of my chair and fired up the desktop - the same keyboard I sat at for hours, days and weeks, ten years ago, checking in on what everybody was cooking, or saying about, or places that sucked, or markets that had that impossibly rare item, or about farms growing heirlooms, or fisheries going bust.  I practically went broke sitting here reading what all you people wrote, and I don't regret a single second.  Thank you, Steven, Jason, Andy, Mayhew Man, Tommy (I still can't face a plate of Laab without laughing at that thread) Maggie, Marlene, and everybody else, for what I believe, will become a hallmark in social media, of a magnitude yet realized.  After all - didn't Byron goad Shelly into writing "Frankenstein" on a drunken dare?

[SethG]

I just learned the news this morning. I am still in shock, as I expect many of you are. My condolences to Steven's family. He had a very positive influence on my life and helped open the world of food up to me. The institutions he built introduced me to many wonderful people. I am so sorry for this tragic loss.

[lebowits]

I did not know him and only corresponded with him a few times, but his effect on my life through eGullet has been profound.  I have made many wonderful friends here and I certainly would not be what I am today as a contributor, occasional teacher, and often taught.  Wisdom begins with the three simple words "I don't know".  I didn't know him, and I am the poorer for it.

[syoung68]

Like so many others here, I have been away from eGullet for quite some time and this news is tragic. Steven was an inspiration to us all. What he and Jason accomplished with eGullet has been amazing. It has affected the food world like nothing else. Steven you will be missed. Rest in piece.

[slo_ted]

I, too am shocked by the news of Steven Shaw's death. He was much too young for this, if I may restate the obvious. Like others above, I rarely post here these days though I do look in on the site fairly frequently. I did enjoy reading the previous posts on this thread. There is a definite memory lane element to seeing responses from my favorite eGulleteers from the past. Thank you for returning and thanks for your stories.