Steven Seybold

Steven Jon Seybold, beloved son of Robert and Patricia Seybold, passed away suddenly from a heart condition on Friday, Nov. 15, at Sacramento Sutter Hospital. Steven was born on Oct. 14, 1959, in Madison, Wis. and was raised in Madison.

He was a 1977 graduate of Madison Memorial High School. Before he graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in forestry, he studied one year at the University of Freiburg, Germany, where his future focus of combining science with forestry became his career path.

Over those years, besides being a scholar, he was an accomplished musician, excelling on clarinet. He set a high bar for his younger brothers.

For graduate school, Steven was accepted at UC Berkeley, receiving a Ph.D. in forest entomology, specializing in pine bark beetles. He completed postdoctoral work at the University of Nevada-Reno and was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota-St. Paul for several years before returning to California in 2002. He currently was a research entomologist with an emphasis on chemical ecology of forest insects for the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station and was a lecturer at UC Davis.

Steven was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. He will be greatly missed by his current and former doctoral students, post-docs and international colleagues. He was a collector by nature, collecting and categorizing all he found beginning with butterflies before he was 4 to rocks, coins and stamps. He loved the outdoors and loved sharing it with his daughters.

Steven is survived by his cherished daughters, Emily Jane (17) and Natalie Ann (11) Seybold; their mother, Julie Tillman; his heartbroken mother, Patricia; his brothers, Russel and Richard (Julie); nieces, nephew, aunts, uncle and cousins. He was preceded in death by his father Robert (1996), who always encouraged him to approach science creatively.

A visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, at Smith Funeral Home in Davis. A service will be held on Saturday, Nov. 23, at Saint James Church in Davis at 10 a.m. with interment at a later date near his father at Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison. Memorials in Steven’s name may be made to the American Heart Association, National Parks Conservation Association or the Entomology and Nematology Student Support fund at UC Davis.