Dr. Stephen T. Perconte, 64, beloved husband, father, friend, and coworker passed away suddenly on April 24th, 2020. Dr. Perconte (also known as Sweetheart, Dad, Stephen, Steve, Dr. Steve, and Elvis depending on your relationship with him) was just days away from retirement after serving the nations veterans for over 37 years. As Chief Psychologist of the Pittsburgh VA, he compassionately attended to the needs of the men and women who fought in all wars from World War II to the present. Dr. Perconte diligently and with great pride and distinction, dedicated his life to veterans and exemplified the motto of the VA which came from a quote from President Lincoln's second inaugural address in 1865: "To Care for Him who Shall have Borne the Battle and for his Widow and His Orphan." His legacy will live on in the Psychologists he hired and trained over his career and in the three strangers who received his organ donations. Dr. Perconte was a loving, generous, compassionate, passionate, intelligent, talented, funny, amazing Husband, Father, Friend and yes, singer (hence the Elvis reference for his Karaoke family). His sense of humor was legendary, whether it be "exploding caterpillars", Sharknado jokes, "rabbit hunting or flying rat stories", silly "dad" jokes, he was always there to brighten your day. He was a man who fostered the passions of others and his ability to bring humor to any situation...the shared laughter that he brought to all who knew him was an endearing quality that will forever remain with us. He is survived by his wife Tamara, his children Phil, Rachel, Sarah, Nicole, and his granddaughter Ivy.

Steve was one of my closest friends at DHS, part of the group of guys who called ourselves by the meaningless name "The Phoonmen." He was exceptionally smart and was an eager co-conspirator in any scheme we devised to annoy the DHS administration such as an unauthorized "underground" newspaper (really just 8 pages of silly jokes and poorly drawn cartoons). I'm sorry I fell out of touch with Steve. Judging from his obituary he left the world a better place than he found it.