William Victor Steiner, a retired Maryland Correctional Enterprises official and environmentalist, died Friday of complication from a stroke at Anne Arundel Medical Center. The Edgewater resident was 67.
Born in Baltimore and raised on Maryland Avenue in Towson, he was a 1959 Towson High School graduate. He earned a philosophy degree at Michigan State University and served in the Marine Corps.
As a young man, he was a social worker at the old Baltimore City Department of Public Welfare and later taught courses in contemporary issues and social sciences at Pikesville High School.
He joined the state's Division of Parole and Probation and later became an analyst in the Department of Budget and Fiscal Planning. Mr. Steiner went on to become director of State Use Industries. He headed an agency that helps prisoners learn marketable skills to find jobs after they were released.
Family members said that after reading a notice in the Penny Saver, Mr. Steiner became a volunteer at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary along the Patuxent River in southern Anne Arundel County.
"He loved to lead group trips and teach people about the sanctuary," said a daughter, Amy Steiner of Washington, D.C.
He was president of the Friends of Jug Bay from 2002 to 2004.
A commemorative gathering will be held at 4 p.m. Friday at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, 1361 Wrighton Road in Lothian.
In addition to his daughter, survivors include his wife of 40 years, the former Bette-Lynn Bluefeld; another daughter, Linda Steiner of Edgewater; and a sister, Cheryl Geiger of Kensington.
