An “incredible musician” and “steadfast friend,” a gentle leader and “wise mentor,” a “kind human” and “one of the loveliest of conversation partners.” These are some of the ways former colleagues and students describe their peer and friend, Tim Steele.

Steele served on the music faculty at Calvin for 18 years. On June 14, 2025, just weeks before his official retirement, Steele died following a brief and unexpected illness. He was 66 years old.

“Tim will be remembered for his faithful dedication and commitment to faculty, students, and to his academic interests,” said Jason Werkema, who had Steele as his supervisor in the department of visual and performing arts. “He was a competent and well-respected colleague who lived out his passion for music and for helping those around him to achieve their goals.”

At the core of Steele’s legacy at Calvin was his faith and that manifested itself through the ways he served his department.

“He lived out 1 Thessalonians 5:11, ‘Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing,’” said Werkema.

Modeling servant leadership

Steele modeled servant leadership during his lengthy tenure as chair of the department.��
��
“Tim was the ultimate pinch hitter in the music department, who routinely gave everyone else the teaching assignments they wanted and taught whatever was left that needed to be taught,” said Benita Wolters-Fredlund, a dean and a longtime colleague of Steele’s in the music department.��
��
One of the reasons he could do this is because he had such a wide range of musical interests and expertise.��
��
“His range was truly enormous and included ensemble conducting, theory, aural skills, and every kind of music history and music appreciation from medieval and renaissance music (the subject of his dissertation) to progressive rock (an elective course he taught this past year),” said Wolters-Fredlund. “I will miss our long conversations about musicological matters more than I can say.”��
��
His students also deeply appreciated his wide range of musical interests and his deep investment in each of them.

Investing in students

“I believe he was present, available, and generous with his time with students,” said Werkema.��
��
“From what I’ve heard, our music students always enjoyed his sense of humor, as well as the rigorous, thought-provoking questions,” said a former colleague. “They seemed to really appreciate Tim’s vast knowledge (and genuine interest) in various musical styles (ranging from early music to progressive rock). I also think they responded well to his firm, yet gentle promptings to learn more about themselves and their vocation through a Reformed perspective.”��
��
“He loved the students, and he went the extra mile to ensure they were supported in their learning both in and outside the classroom,” said Werkema.

Leaving a legacy

Steele’s legacy will also be tied to the ways in which he provided steady leadership for the department as it navigated challenges and embraced new opportunities, including the recent re-launch of the music education program.��
��
“Tim was a gifted administrator and because of this he spent the majority of his professional life in higher education being a chair or a dean. Tim weathered a lot of crises and change in his time as chair, and his colleagues owe him a great debt for this service,” said Wolters-Fredlund.��
��
While Steele was regarded as an excellent teacher and scholar, he also remained an active practitioner. Steele was a gifted performer and played early wind and string instruments and led Calvin’s Collegium Musicum. He also co-directed the Early Music Ensemble of Grand Rapids and assumed leadership roles in organizations such as the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music and the Christian Voices in Musicology Study Group.��
��
Tim is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, their five children Jonathan, Melissa, Amy, Liz, and Emily, their spouses, his six (soon to be seven) grandchildren, his sisters Cindy and Missy, three nephews, and their families. A will be held on July 25, 2025, at 11 a.m. at LaGrave Christian Reformed Church (107 LaGrave Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503).