Steve Kaminski Obituary, Death – Sadly we bring the news of the death of an aspiring journalist, Steve Kaminski worked on his first story for a month. But it didn’t take long for him to transform into a piston-pumping, engine-roaring, tire-burning writing machine, sharing his enthusiasm for car racing with readers while simultaneously becoming a presence on the high school sports scene. “I’d just smile when I opened the paper and saw another story by Steve Kaminski,” his father, Robert Kaminski, recalled. “He’d write four or five stories in one day sometimes… he simply reels them out.” Kaminski, a well-known personality in West Michigan auto racing circles as a longtime reporter for The Grand Rapids Press and MLive, died on Monday at the age of 56. Steve had no known serious health conditions, according to his father, and the family believes he had a heart attack or stroke.
He is survived by his wife Kristen, 21-year-old daughter Noelle, 17-year-old son Eli, and a slew of readers he entertained and informed throughout the course of his nearly 40-year writing career. “The compassion and commitment that Steve had for the players and community he covered shined through in his work every day,” said Bryn Mickle, MLive’s director of sports. “He was a consummate professional.” As a sophomore at Grand Rapids Creston High School, Kaminski participated in a student program organized by The Grand Rapids Press. His father claimed he spent a month revising his first story with his English teacher. Kaminski began working as a stringer for The Press while attending Grand Valley State University, and he would spend the next five decades writing stories for his local paper.
“He’d sit in the kitchen and talk on the phone from the time he finished breakfast until 1 a.m.,” Robert Kaminski recalled. “I’d advise him to put this stuff down and leave the house. ‘You’ve had that phone in your ear all day!’ “He’d usually get up and do something, then get right back to it. But that was his true love. He simply enjoyed writing.” Kaminski has been at the forefront of MLive Grand Rapids’ high school sports beat since 2012, practically single-handedly covering a large 53-school area. With a regular stream of state champions and title challengers in practically every sport, having a writer at the top of his game was critical.
