Elgin entrepreneur, software guru was ‘unflappable’

It was impossible to ruffle Steve Munson.

He was a man who remained calm, in control and who never lost his temper, friends say.

When the going got tough, Munson would just smile that wide grin of his and say in his distinctive voice that everything was going to be all right.

“I think he was unflappable personally and professionally,” said George Rawlinson, Munson’s longtime friend. “I think anybody who came in contact with him is a better person because of it.”

For several months, Munson, an entrepreneur and an Elgin mover and shaker who was active on the city’s civic and technological scenes, had been fighting the battle of his life.

Thursday evening, Munson, 55, succumbed to a rare form of bone cancer and died at Provena St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin.

He was married to Ruth Munson, a former Elgin city councilwoman and Elgin’s former state representative. The couple have two adult children, Ryan and Olivia.

Steve Munson co-owned Everyware Inc., a software-development company based in downtown Elgin. In 2010, he parlayed his computer expertise into cofounding BocaJump, a website for the city’s news and night life.

“He certainly impressed me because he was an Elgin innovator,” Councilman John Prigge said. “He took a chance with BocaJump and I’ve got a soft spot for anybody that makes investments in this city.”

As a board member and ex-president for the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin, Munson helped develop the group’s website, and took it through two upgrades, initiated the group’s weekly e-blasts and encouraged the DNA to use Twitter and Facebook.

“He was instrumental in making the Downtown Neighborhood Association kind of a leader in using technology and social networking,” said Councilman John Steffen, another longtime friend.

Munson, treasurer for the United Way of Elgin, used his social connections to help the organization stay current, said Lynne Bosley, the group’s president. This was instrumental in helping the group identify emerging and changing needs in which to invest.

“He was a great asset because he knew the community so well and he was familiar with so many of the organizations and what was going on in the community and always seemed to, through his connections, have his finger on the pulse of what was happening,” Bosley said.

And he knew a thing about picking leaders.

Munson served on the search committees that hired Tonya Hudson as DNA’s executive director, Bosley for United Way and Paris Donohoo, the pastor at First Congregational Church of Elgin. All of them remain in place.

Munson’s death comes nine months after Elgin lost Patricia Keeney, owner of Keeney’s Sporting Goods and another downtown fixture who died of cancer. This time last year, Rawlinson would have run into both Keeney and Munson in the neighborhood.

“They’re two major figures in the downtown that are both gone now,” Rawlinson said. “And the downtown is diminished because of that and we’re all diminished because of that.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.