Steven Hess, Survivor
Steven Hess was born in Amsterdam, Holland in 1938. A graduate of Columbia College, Class of 1960, Mr. Hess majored in American history. He served on active duty with the U.S. Navy for four years (1960-1964) first as a line officer on board a destroyer and later as a public relations officer with the Third Naval District. He separated from the service with the rank of Lieutenant.
Following military service, he was employed at The New York Times and then as a public relations specialist with the Western Electric Company. In 1967 he joined Berkey Photo and served in a variety of assignments leading to the presidency of their professional manufacturing division. In 1975 Mr. Hess moved to Rochester, NY as president of Saunders Photo/Graphic, at the time a six-person photographic equipment company. The company grew to one of the most successful and recognized U.S. manufacturers and distributors of photographic accessories, reaching $16,000,000. in annual sales and over 100 employees. In 1998 Mr. Hess sold the business.
Mr. Hess spent his childhood years under Nazi occupation. He and his family, including his parents and twin sister, were in both the Westerbork and Bergen Belsen concentration camps during the period 1942-1945. They were liberated by Russian troops while on a train transport en route to an eastern European extermination camp. The family eventually returned to Holland and immigrated to the United States on January 1, 1947.
Mr. Hess has four grown children. He has lectured frequently on the Holocaust throughout the Rochester school systems and at area colleges and universities. His community activities include membership on the Board of Directors of the Rochester Humane Society.