Stephen (Steve) Robert Pearl

Stephen (Steve) Robert Pearl died January 14, 2018 after a short illness. He was born to Archie and Rose Pearl in San Mateo in 1941 and lived in the area until the time of his death. He graduated from Hillsdale High School in 1959 as a member of the school's first 4-year graduating class and later attended San Francisco State University. He joined Pearl Processing, the photo restoration business his father founded.

Steve liked speed and adventure. As a younger man, he enjoyed making model airplanes and later began flying radio-controlled airplanes. He loved taking his wife, Marilyn, on weekend getaways to Tahoe in his 1965 Corvette. At 59, he took up street luge, a variation on the Olympic sport, ice luge. He loved the thrill of the sport and eventually founded Wild Fro Racing, a street luge school once featured on "Bay Area Backroads". His goal was to bring street luge to more people and share his joy. At 60, became the world's oldest competitive street luger. He called it, "A tremendous sport." At 62 he suffered a spinal cord injury in a street luge race in San Francisco. Despite his injury, he always kept a positive attitude and was a pleasure to be around.