Gwinnett swimming local community mourning dying of longtime volunteer Steve Drew | Sports
3 min readAlthough Steve Drew and his spouse and children relocated to New Jersey a handful of several years back, he left a lasting legacy in his past household in Gwinnett County.
All those locals have been in mourning the earlier couple days after discovering that Drew, a longtime volunteer in the Gwinnett swimming group, handed absent Thursday after a battle with most cancers. He labored plenty of hrs with the Gwinnett County Swim League, such as a stint as league president from 2003-07.
“Steve was a fixture in Gwinnett swimming, be it on deck as meet up with referee or behind the scenes managing the Gwinnett County Swim League for so quite a few many years,” previous GCSL president Bill Mahoney mentioned. “It’s not hyperbole that his commitment to the sport impacted tens of thousands of young children by his a long time of endeavours and volunteerism for the Gwinnett County Swim League. I’ll skip getting very long phone calls and prolonged, still humorous and very well-worded e-mail from Steve about his suggestions and feelings on how to make the league much better for the 6,000 young ones in the GCSL each and every summer season. He genuinely was a big in our league.”
Drew served as the GCSL council chair for the Duluth Thunderbolts from 1997-2002 ahead of turning into the league’s president in 2003. He was the GCSL regulations chairman from 2009-13 and a county meet referee from 2011-15.
He also was lively with Ga Swimming as a member of its officials committee from 2011-14 — he was licensed as a Usa Swimming Formal from 1998-2016.
“Anyone who met or experienced the pleasure of being aware of Steve, understands how I sense,” GCSL vice president Christy McCall stated. “The man was over and above educated, wrote the most in depth emails, had the major servant’s coronary heart and could carry a tense situation to laughter with his unwavering wit. He was a good chief and our swim neighborhood misplaced a real friend. My existence is a lot richer for possessing recognized Steve.”
Drew, an IT accounting expert, moved absent from Gwinnett, but speedily took volunteer roles in his new residence. He was a board member for West Milford (N.J.) General public Schools and was on the city’s Economic Improvement Commission, serving as vice chairman due to the fact 2016. He held an economics degree from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in business enterprise, finance and accounting from Carnegie Mellon College.
“No make a difference if it was in my specialist profession, my swimming volunteer operate or my role as a mother, Steve was generally a cheerleader I could change to if my confidence necessary a enhance,” longtime GCSL volunteer Meg Rooney stated. “Steve was a just one of a kind human being and it is truthful to say that the mould was tossed after he was created. He was clever, amusing, considerate, intelligent and a man or woman who frequently challenged us all to feel bigger and tougher. I relished our disagreements practically as significantly as I liked the occasions we pulled alongside one another. Steve still left Gwinnett County a improved position and I am so grateful that he touched my lifestyle. I am a superior man or woman now since of Steve Drew.”
