Stephen Jeffrey “Steve” Callan, age 68, passed away on September 14, 2026, in Camdenton, Missouri. The cause of death was reported as a heart attack. He leaves behind the love of his life, his wife Nieves Pascual Soler, as well as his son Tyler Stephen Callan and daughter Nicole Catherine Callan.

A resident of Climax Springs, Missouri, Steve is survived also by four siblings: sisters Maureen Renfroe and Linda Bouton, and brothers Al Callan and John Callan; as well as numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, John F. Callan and Margery H. Callan, and his oldest brother Bernard, who passed away in 1980.

Steve was born in Rochester, New York on July 24, 1958, as the fourth child of John F. Callan and Margery H. (Byrd) Callan. There he attended grade school and middle school, where he loved fishing at a local pond, playing sandlot baseball, and challenging many neighbors to a race around the block. His father Jack Callan would often sit on the front porch drinking a beer as young Jeff (his childhood nickname) ran by, and say “There he goes again.” And Steve did go far indeed.

The family, including two younger brothers who had joined the six-child brood, moved to Springfield, Missouri in 1973. There Steve was a varsity football player and track star at Kickapoo High School, and briefly pursued qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team. It was at Kickapoo that he first encountered the second great love of his life, for chemistry, which would last his whole life long.

Following high school graduation in 1976, he studied organic and physical chemistry at Southwest Missouri State University. He began his career as a polymer analyst with Dayco Corporation, in 1977, in a part-time job he was referred to by a friend of his mother’s.

He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry with a minor in Physics from Southwest Missouri State University in 1980. That same spring, he declined employment as a research chemist with Dayco to pursue graduate studies in Polymer Chemistry and Engineering Management. His graduate research in Chemistry included development of new techniques for synthesis, chromatographic separation and Scanning Electron Microscopy/X-Ray analysis of polymers. His graduate research in Engineering Management included development of a mathematical model which described personnel progression through pyramidal organizational systems. In simpler terms, that research showed him how limited a career he would likely have as a corporate chemist, and as a result, he resolved to start a chemical lab of his own.

Steve received a Master’s Degree in Polymer Chemistry and a Master’s Degree in Engineering Management from the University of Missouri-Rolla. After three years working at two small research labs, in 1989 he opened Polymer Testing of St. Louis. Over the next 37 years, as its owner and chief scientist, Steve’s company provided a highly specialized suite of polymer‑analysis services, offering over 1,500 plastics and coatings test procedures. He was recognized in his industry for his expertise on failure analysis, reverse engineering, and custom analytical method development.

While his professional accomplishments were impressive, Steve is best remembered by those who were closest to him for the way he lived. As he did as a child, he loved to go fishing, whether with the friends he made along the Lake of the Ozarks, or with his brother Al and Al’s sons Clint and Davis, on salmon fishing trips to the Northwest.

Steve loved life wholeheartedly. He loved his family, his friends, his bikes, and the outdoors. He loved bullfighting, pasta, gravy, paella, cigars, whisky, and Peggy’s cookies. He loved tasting new foods and visiting new places. He said Spain was his home too, and he planned to settle there with his Spanish family in Almería, near the Mediterranean, on the golf course at La Envía.

He laughed hard. You could hear his laughter from miles away. He woke up smiling and went to bed happy.

He was an extraordinarily generous man. If he saw someone who needed help, he helped. He had a brilliant mind. Often, he saw things others did not see and did things others could not imagine. And, of course, he thought he was always right.

He felt deeply. He believed in God, and he saw Him especially in the trees.

He simply loved being alive.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Tuesday, September 22, 2026 at the funeral home beginning at 11:00 am. Visitation will be from 10:00 until 11:00 at the funeral home.

Arrangements are under the direction of Allee-Holman-Howe Funeral Home.