Stephen Paul Lindenbaum, 57, of Marietta, GA, passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, March 22, 2009. He was born to parents Bernard and Ruth in Dayton, Ohio on April 4, 1951. Steve followed in his father’s footsteps, earning Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati in 1974 and 1976, respectively. He joined the Lockheed-Georgia Co. in 1976 as an aerodynamicist in support of Preliminary Design and worked on many programs, including the Advanced Tactical Fighter which became the F-22. Steve left Lockheed in 1988 and joined the Aircraft Performance Group at Delta Air Lines where, among other accomplishments, he became their expert in reading flight data recorders. Steve cherished a passion for aviation that went beyond his work. He began building and flying model airplanes as a child. His real passion, though, was soaring. He soloed in gliders at the age of 14, and earned his private pilot’s license in gliders at the age of 16, choosing it over a driver’s license. Steve became a flight instructor in gliders and added a powered aircraft rating to his pilot’s license. He achieved internationally recognized soaring goal flights for altitude, distance and duration, the pinnacle of which was the “Diamond Badge” awarded by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, which included an altitude gain of over 20,000 feet. Steve owned three gliders over the years, the last being a Schemp-Hirth SH-1 Austria which began flying the same year that he did, 1964. Steve competed in national soaring competitions around the country for many years and transitioned his soaring interests to vintage sailplanes more recently. Steve’s other passion and love of his life was his wife, Janie. They met as teenagers and married five years later after Steve completed his Bachelors degree. They were married on June 16, 1974 and shared a wonderful life together with many interesting travels including numerous soaring competitions, camping up and down the west coast, traveling the back roads and small towns of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and visiting a number of Caribbean islands. Steve and Janie spent three weeks in a pop-up camper for their honeymoon. They figured if they could survive the honeymoon, the marriage would also. In 1995 they designed and built their dream home on a lovely wooded lot. Steve enjoyed a sense of humor, had a generous soul and was always ready to help others. An engineer through and through, he loved to solve a problem. Steve was an interesting person with a large reservoir of knowledge who could speak to many subjects, but his largest well of knowledge was of aviation. Steve created a lecture and slide presentation on the technical history of soaring which he presented to numerous groups. Steve is survived by his wife Janie (Lallemand), brother Eugene Lindenbaum of Haywood, CA, and sister and brother-in-law Judy (Lindenbaum) and Tim King of Sydney, Australia. Funeral services will be at 12:00 PM on Thursday, March 26 at Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 3734 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd, Atlanta 30341. Contributions in Steve’s memory may be made to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, the National Soaring Museum or the Soaring Society of America. Sign on-line guestbook: www.edressler.com. 770-451-4999