CRAIG STEGER - TRUSTEE

Craig Steger holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Literature (from the University at Buffalo and Buffalo State University, respectively).  From 1980-1991, he wrote histories of the Manhattan Project and nuclear facilities for Oak Ridge Associated Universities (Oak Ridge, Tennessee).   

From 1981-1999, Craig was the first Grants Development Officer for the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (Buffalo, New York).  He was responsible for identifying research funding sources, writing grants and contracts, and managing research projects for all of Roswell’s scientific and clinical research staff.  Craig was also the administrator of Roswell Park’s prestigious National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded Core Grant and five annual pilot project programs that funded innovative developmental research projects at Roswell.  

In 1999, Craig joined his wife to develop and operate the Blue Moon Café, a 99-seat global foods restaurant in the Elmwood Village.  During the Café’s 2.5 years of existence, he consulted for Roswell Park, and analyzed and indexed tobacco industry documents. 

This project successfully scanned and processed over 17 million pages of internal industry documents, creating a free virtual library for researchers and the public.  From 2003-2018, Craig served as a Research Department Administrator, writing grants and managing research and construction projects, and international conferences for the Departments of Molecular Biophysics and Health Behavior.  He retired from Roswell Park in 2023 as the administrator for the NCI’s largest funded grant, a $20 million/5-year Translational Tobacco Use Research Center at Roswell Park.   

Craig recently retired from the Board of Directors of Buffalo’s Historic Colored Musicians Club where he also served as the Club’s historian.  He served on the research team that developed the Club’s Jazz Museum, and his grant applications helped fund the Museum and building renovations.  Craig also researched and wrote the application that placed the Club on the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places in 2018.  Craig is an author or co-author on several publications about the illustrious history about the Club and its founding American Federation of Musicians union.  He is proud to be a lifetime honorary member of the Club.   

Mr. Steger is honored to serve on the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame’s Board of Trustees.  He will proudly serve in the memory of his father, his cousin Bob, and his friend Steve, all of whom fostered his lifelong love of music, especially jazz.