Mr. Steve Gordon

Steve Gordon, 55, Kingsport. KINGSPORT — Steve Gordon, 55, passed away on Jan. 27, 2014, after a long, hard-fought battle with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Steve was proud to complete high school at the McCallie School for Boys in 1976 and matriculated to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville where he received a BS in Chemistry. Initially he started a check cashing business in his junior year of college on the UT campus (strip) that evolved into a full time financial company that served local Knoxville businessmen to collect unpaid debts. From there, Steve Gordon opened a printing company in Florida before going to work for Panasonic and Apple. His passion for computer security led him to Homeland Security in Washington, DC followed by his move to private industry with the OPIS Corporation serving the oil and gas industry. During his ten-year struggle with Lymphoma, Steve obtained a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee Executive Program. On June 30, 1989 he married Kim Parham , a ETSU alumni from Kingsport, Tenn. and became proud parents of Jennifer Elizabeth Gordon on Sept. 12, 1990. Steve was a devoted husband for 25 years and active parent whom videoed all of Jennifer’s soccer games at Beardon High School during his daughter’s high school career and two state championship seasons. He loved the Beardon women’s soccer program and continued to film their games for 4 years after Jennifer’s graduation. A lifelong UT football fan, Steve loved to expound on the 1998 championship season and still has a piece of the goalpost from their win over University of Florida that propelled the Vols to their championship season. Steve is preceded in death by his mother, Sallye Gordon. Steve is survived by his loving wife; and daughter, Kim and Jennifer; his father, Martin J Gordon; his sister, Susan Kruchten (husband Mark and children, Blake and Mitchell); his brother Robert (wife Sheryl and children, Dylan and Alec); his mother-in-law Kathy Parham; father-in-law Tom Parham II ( wife Martha); and Kim’s siblings, Tom III (wife, Trish) and Mike (wife, Paige and children Jaxon and Kaden); his dog Lucky; and his extended beach family from their yearly Fourth of July forays to Myrtle Beach. Steve has now joined his daughter Ashley Cassandra. Steve was an exuberant, honest, and loving person who never let life’s adversity affect his positive outlook. During his last days, he was more concerned with the feelings of his numerous visitors than he was with his impending demise. He will be immensely missed by all of the people whose lives he impacted. Steve’s friends and family are cordially invited to “ a celebration of life” service at Berry Funeral Home, 3704 Chapman Highway, Knoxville Tenn. on Feb.1, 2014 at 1 p.m. with a reception to follow, Trinity Memorial as the Service Provider. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in memory of Steven Gordon to the Duke Cancer Institute supporting the Jon P. Gockerman Endowment. Checks may be written to the Duke Cancer Institute and contributions may be mailed to the following address: Duke Cancer Institute, 710 West Main St., Suite 200, Durham, N.C. 27701. Trinity Memorial is honored to serve the family of Mr. Gordon. For more information please call 723-8177 or to send a gift, flower, or condolence visit www.trinitymemorialcenters.com

Mr. Steve Gordon

January 27, 2014