The College of Science community is saddened by the news that retired microbiology professor Andrew "Steve" Kester passed away on January 9 at the age of 88.

The Pennsylvania native grew up in Newton and graduated from The Pennsylvania State University. Upon his graduation from Penn State, he served in the U.S. Army Chemical Corp, finding ways to quickly identify pathogens. Following his Army service, Steve earned his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin and went on to work for Miles Laboratories in Indiana. In 1967 Steve returned to Texas, where he joined the UNT faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences where he remained at UNT teaching microbiology until his retirement. He not only gave of himself to our students he also gave to UNT and continued to give throughout the years benefitting KNTU and the Department of Chemistry.

Our thoughts go out to his wife of 60 years, Marian; his daughter, Sue; his son, Bill; many grandchildren and one great-grandson. Steve will be missed.

For a full obituary and memorial information, visit Legacy.com.