Friends recall life of ‘funny’ alumnus

An IU alumnus who was known for having the most “incompletes” on his transcript will be remembered next weekend for his humor and love of life.
Steven Danzig, 55,  died in his home July 4 after battling cancer for about nine years. Danzig, known for his sense of humor among friends and family, was a major contributor to IU, serving as the student body president in 1973 and 1974. He also created the IU Student Association Faculty Course Evaluation and the Indiana Memorial Union Ride Board, said Mayor Mark Kruzan, who was a friend
of Danzig’s.
On July 19, Danzig’s life will be celebrated in what his wife, Connie Stewart, described as a “remembrance party.”
“He always made me laugh,” Stewart said. “That’s the reason I started dating him.”
Danzig was a “professional student” at IU in the 1970s and 1980s and holds the record for the most incompletes, Kruzan joked. After Danzig graduated, the Bloomington Faculty Council created a rule to prevent limitless incompletes.
IUSA President Luke Fields said IUSA is currently updating the Faculty Course Evaluation, but it is something that has been a lasting legacy in the organization.
“I think, at it’s core, that’s what IUSA exists to do so we have an opportunity to inform the faculty and us what’s going on with faculty members and how we can improve,” he said. “It’s definitely noteworthy that Danzig created it.”
One quality everyone seemed to remember about Danzig was his sense of humor. Stewart said she and Danzig met at the Bluebird while Danzig was selling T-shirts on the street for a local band. Danzig owned and operated his own small business, Image Boxers, through which he created pillowcases and boxer shorts, Stewart said.
Stewart and Danzig got married in the Teter Quad cafeteria. It was the first and last wedding to be held there, Stewart said, because so many people attended. Kruzan said he served as a groomsman in the wedding.
“I met him in 1979,” he said. “He was one of the funniest, most intelligent and most loyal people I’ve ever met. He’s the only person I’ve known that was all three of those qualities.”
Stewart joked Danzig also often let their cat, Lautrec, “talk” on the phone.
“When customers would call his business and he found out they were a cat lover, he’d put the phone up to the cat and let it talk,” Stewart said.
While there is no set venue yet for the remembrance party, Stewart said it will give friends and family a chance
to remember Danzig.
“It is just going to be happy where people tell stories about his life,” Stewart said. “He would have wanted us to do that.”