Steven Dale Ostrom

It was always a pleasure to spend time with Steve, whether in a work or social setting. Individuality, professionalism and a sense of humor were things I remember best. Condolences to his family.

I had the pleasure of working with Steve for about a year while working for Intermec in Schaumburg, IL. I will treasure these memories always, and I will miss him dearly.

So, I think that Steve would appreciate some "Steve O" stories. This is urban legend mind you, but there was a major issue with a drug store chain account headquartered in Deerfield, IL. Steve had landed this account with old narrow band radios. The account was half way through a roll-out but they were having troubles with there own radios interfering with other radios at other owned stores. In those days, you would avoid interferance through frequency assignment and power transmission. Because of the frequencies chosen by the account and the power of the radios. the account needed a $1.50 radio antennae attenuator for 3,000 units to cut down on the range of their transmissions and thus the interference. The CEO of Steve's company refused to pay the $4,500 for the attenuators and the customer demanded a meeting with the CEO. So Steve arranges for the meeting and picks-up the CEO, the VP of Sales, and the sales manager at the Chicago O'Hare airport. As they are driving-up the Tri-State expressway, the CEO and Steve get into an argument about the $1.50 attenuator. The argument escalates and finally Steve pulls his Cadillac over and onto the shoulder. He then proceeded to invite the CEO to step out of the car and fight over it! The sales manager was trying to figure out wether to call the police, the VP of Sales mentally was updating his forecast and taking the second half of the roll-out out of his commitment, and the CEO is realizing that Steve O fights hard for his customers!! As Steve use to say, "Find someone that wants to buy something from you, and then service the heck out of them"!! I will really miss Steve.

Friends and memories are forever, that's us. Just a couple Iowa farm boys that moved to the big city. God doesn't take away friendships and great memories. Rest in peace my friend.

Working under Steve’s tutelage I became a better professional and a better person. Lessons of organization, being prepared, understanding and exceeding customer expectations, holding the company AND the customer accountable to commitments remain with me today. My hart is heavy because I always thought I’d have plenty of opportunity to visit with Steve again. I’ll really miss Steve and, it was an honor to work with him. My deepest condolences to Jennifer and family.