Dr. Steven Smiley Guest, age 66, of Miramar Beach, FL, passed away on December 5, 2023, after suffering complications from Pompe's disease.
Steve was born on December 27, 1956. He attended Emory University and received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, TN. After completing a fellowship in Nephrology at Harvard's Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, he became an adjunct professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and later a staff nephrologist and Medical Director of Peritoneal Dialysis at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Santa Clara, CA. In 2008, Dr. Guest joined Baxter Healthcare Corporation in Deerfield, IL, and was active in medical consulting, publishing, and training throughout the United States on kidney dialysis-related topics. Upon his retirement from Baxter, he spent the last years of his life at his home in Miramar Beach, FL. During his time in Florida, he was quick to make friends with local musicians and bartenders. His last few months there were spent with frequent visits from his family, filled with endless games of Rummikub and laughs around the dinner table.
Steve was an avid traveler. His travels to Bangladesh in 1979 sparked his lifelong interest in providing dialysis services to the poorest in that country. For many years he was the Medical Director of a charity - The Sonar Bangla Foundation - based in San Jose, CA, which became the largest non-governmental dialysis provider in Bangladesh.
Steve was preceded in death by his father, Dr. James L. Guest, Jr., and his mother, Jacqueline Sikes Guest. He is survived by his wife, Sherly, his three beloved children - Alexander, Sydney, and Ashley - and two sisters, Susan Guest Hebert and Sharon Guest Yurkowski. He also leaves behind many dear friends and colleagues around the globe.
A small family service will be held in Claxton, GA, where he will be buried. Steve requested that in place of flowers, donations be made in his name to The Sonar Bangla Foundation, https://sbfus.org.
Posted online on December 06, 2023
Published in Montgomery Advertiser