Steven C. Brandt

in his early 20s, Steven C. Brandt drove his bride west in a leaky ’57 Chevy convertible. They lived four lives together there. Their first one was in Silicon Valley. He co-founded a small company; they had and raised two boys; and sold the company after a dozen years.

The four moved to Tahoe City, CA to “experience mountain living with nature in the High Sierra.” One son and three grandchildren still live there.

Steve was invited to teach one graduate course at the Stanford Business School, one time. He went for a year and continued on the faculty for twenty-one years. “I loved teaching…but did miss nature.”

He retired at 53. Now empty nesters, the pair resolved to seriously "repot” themselves. They did. They moved to tiny San Juan Island in the Pacific Ocean between Washington State and Canada; built Circle B sheep farm; became ingrained in local matters; and explored parts of the Inside Passage to Alaska aboard their wooden boat, Spirit. After eighteen years of island living, Steve’s wife was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia.

They returned to Palo Alto and began nearly a decade of caregiving and receiving. She died on Christmas Eve, 2016. Over these four lives, Steve wrote nine popular books—non-fiction and fiction, a hundred articles, a newspaper column, and, most recently, a book of poetry.