Another Islander has crossed the sandbar.
Ed Steenstra, 74, died Sept. 23, 2026. Born Sept. 10, 1951, in Paterson, New Jersey, Ed lived a life shaped by the water, the Island community he loved and an almost inexhaustible curiosity about how things worked and what might be around the next bend.
Ed treasured the early days of Island life and was closely involved with the Anna Maria Island Community Center, where he taught sailing and football and worked with some of its youngest athletes in T-ball. His involvement grew over the years, taking him from assistant director to service on the board.
Plants were part of the family story as well. Ed’s family owned Florida Garden Nursery, and he carried that interest with him, becoming a master gardener among the remarkably long list of skills and pursuits he collected during his lifetime.
But the sea exerted perhaps the strongest pull. Ed became a professional U.S. Coast Guard-licensed 100-ton master captain and accumulated plenty of stories along the way, including adventures working as a supply boat captain serving offshore oil rigs along the Louisiana coast. His love of sailing and racing also brought him to the Sarasota Sailing Squadron, where he became an active member.
Trying to compile a complete list of Ed’s interests would be nearly impossible. He enjoyed ceramics and pottery, gardening, welding, blacksmithing, reading, cooking and bicycling. He groomed the family’s beloved poodle, Sammy. He went metal detecting, collected antiques and was fascinated by just about anything involving cars, boats or airplanes.
He loved to travel, but Ed wasn’t particularly interested in simply following the prescribed route. Wherever he went, he had a knack for finding something unusual, interesting and decidedly off the beaten path.
And he never seemed to stop learning something new.
One of his later ventures involved vinyl printing and creating decals for T-shirts, vehicle advertising and other projects. He was also an avid supporter of the Second Amendment and an accomplished marksman.
Then there was football. Ed loved his Florida Gators and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He leaves behind his companion of 30 years, Audrey Roebling, who perhaps summed up his absence most simply by saying, “Life will be a lot less interesting without him.”
Ed also leaves his best friend, George Fara, whom he considered “his brother from another mother;” his sister, Sharon, and brother-in-law, Bill; niece Amber and nephew Billy; great-nephew Milo, Amber’s son; his younger brother, Scott; and nephews Scotty and Shaune.
Those who knew Ed knew a man whose interests rarely stayed confined to one subject, one place or one adventure for very long. He could move from sailing to gardening, machinery to pottery, football to travel – always curious, always learning and usually with another story to tell.
For the people who loved him, the world will indeed be a little less interesting without him.
A celebration of Ed’s life will be held Nov. 7 at 2 p.m. at Sharon and Billy’s home at 405 77th Street in Holmes Beach.
And for a man whose life was so closely tied to the water, there may be no more fitting farewell: “Wishing you fair skies and following seas.”
