Pastor Steven Torres of Niverville, NY, passed away May 28, 2011, after a 20-month battle with colon cancer. Steven was born to Eugenia Acevedo and Luis O. Torres on March 22, 1971, in Manhattan, NY.

Steven grew up in Brooklyn and Queens, NY. He attended Queens College and graduated in 1994 with a bachelor of arts degree. He aspired to be a sportscaster/journalist.

Shortly after he married Deborah Wilensky on Aug. 23, 1998, God called him into the gospel ministry. He then graduated from Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary in December 2003 with a Master of Divinity degree.

In January 2004, he started pastoring for the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and was assigned two churches in Columbia County — the Livingston Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Seventh-day Adventist Church at Kinderhook — where he remained employed until the time of his death.

Steven was predeceased by his father, Luis O. Torres, who passed away in 2004. He is survived by his wife Deborah; his daughter Grace; his sons, Noah and Asher; his mother, Eugenia; his brothers, Luis, Willie and Marcus; and many aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws.