About

Steven Schwab was born and raised in Chicago, IL. He received his law degree from Northwestern University and is both a practicing attorney and businessman.

In 1977 he started a company, Sassafras Enterprises, Inc., with a “Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza Pan,” selling retailers like Crate and Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, Sur la Table and other retailers around the world, that continues to this day. From 1988 – 2007, he and his wife, Nancy, operated a retail store, “Sassafras”, at the Lighthouse Place Mall

Sammy Sosa’s 62nd homerun, painted by Andy Jorinko from a photo by Steven Schwab

An avid Cubs fan, Mr. Schwab brings his camera to Wrigley Field and has captured exciting moments in the game. In 1998, he took the definitive photographs of Sammy Sosa’s 61st and 62nd home runs and those photographs were selected by the National Baseball Hall of Fame for their permanent collection in Cooperstown, NY.

The photographs were also published in Baseball: 100 Classic Moments in the History of the Game, as well as numerous other books. In addition, these photographs were exhibited at the Chicago Historical Society in 1999 and the photograph of the 62nd home run was painted by a famous New York artist, Andy Jurinko, on a 7’X 7’ canvas for an exhibition and made into 600 numbered lithographs.

In addition to sports photography, Mr. Schwab can be found on weekends with his camera, capturing the beauty of Beverly Shores, from his photographs of egrets and great blue herons, sunsets and impending storms over the lake.

Having grown up in Hyde Park, he spent many hours viewing the Museum of Science and Industry Model Train Exhibit, leading to a lifelong love of trains and train stations.

His photos of trains (taken in such exotic locales as Paris, Florence, The Hague, Tokyo, New York and Beverly Shores) have been displayed in a series of dioramas entitled Sidetracked at the Depot Museum and Art Gallery in Beverly Shores, Indiana.

One of the dioramas from Mr. Schwab’s exhibition Sidetracked.

The photographs are intentionally blurred to give them a sense of motion. The windows on the train offers a glimpse into the activity of the passengers seen going about everyday behaviors such as reading a paper, talking on the phone, or laughing, while the train whisks them to their
destination.

The dioramas add a study in the relationship of humanity and machine as the observers are either mesmerized by, or oblivious to, this high-speed world whizzing by them as they dance, bicycle, and move about their daily lives on the sidetrack.

Mr. Schwab lives in Chicago and Beverly Shores. He has four children, six grandchildren, and has been married for 28 years to Nancy Schwab who is also his business partner.