Steve Leimberg A Remembrance by Dickie Anderson

STEVE LEIMBERG

A Remembrance

BY DICKIE ANDERSON • PHOTOS BY STEPHEN LEIMBERG

The Amelia Islander Magazine has lost a great friend and a valuable contributor. Steve Leimberg lost his battle with a rare cancer on December 1, 2022.

In our daily lives, many of us meet and know someone who is truly bigger than life. Steve Leimberg was such a person. His talents, intellect, and compassion touched many during his years on Amelia Island. His professional and artistic talents and accomplishments are unmatched and too numerous to mention. Professionally, he was an estate planning attorney, former American College of Financial Services professor, and longtime National Underwriter author.

He may be best known as the creator and principal author of National Underwriter’s Tools & Techniques of Estate Planning. He was a lecturer at Temple University and Villanova University, and he was on the faculty of the American College of Financial Services for 30 years. He founded Leimberg Informational Services and later teamed with other professionals to form Leimberg, LeClair & Lackner, an estate planning firm.

Amelia, Friends of the Fernandina Beach Library, the North Florida Land Trust, and island art galleries and theaters, to name just a few.

Amelia, Friends of the Fernandina Beach Library, the North Florida Land Trust, and island art galleries and theaters, to name just a few.

Steve is highly admired for his beautiful nature photography, as well as his revealing and insightful portrait work. Known as “Th e Bird Man of Amelia,” his photographs of birds are breathtaking. It almost seemed as if the birds were posing for him, showing off their elegant plumage and bright colors. Their beauty was frozen in time in his timeless photographs.

Steve contributed to many memorable features in the Amelia Islander Magazine through the years. One popular feature, “Fernandina Faces,” married Steve’s amazing portraits with individual profi les, which I wrote. Th e island people he photographed felt honored to sit for him, and they treasured the time spent with him and the very special portrait they received.

One memorable project in the Islander that Steve and I collaborated on featured portraits and profi les of long-time American Beach residents. Th e portraits were later featured in an exhibit at the Amelia Island Museum of History. Another project shared haunting photographs of Amelia Island’s historic cemeteries.

Steve was a popular lecturer and photographic instructor. He mentored many aspiring photographers and encouraged everyone to pick up a camera and shoot. One memorable photographers’ field trip traveled to the Jacksonville Zoo. Leading the group in his signature suspenders, Steve offered tips on how best to capture the animals in the early morning hours before the zoo opened.

His photographs of Amelia Island personalities and the people in the countries that he and Jo-Ann visited reveal the very soul of his subjects. Portraits of the aged and those of young children are hypnotizing. A visit to his website (www. unseenimages.com) is an unforgettable experience. Asked why he called his website Unseen Images, Steve answered, “I wanted to call attention to the incredible beauty and splendor we look at every day—but don’t see.”

Steve Leimberg was an amazing man, lost too soon to those whose lives he touched. He will never be forgotten.