Aleen Steinberg

Aleen Steinberg
1930 – 2023

Aleen Steinberg

In loving memory of co-founder, Aleen Steinberg, a true lifelong friend to Muddy Sneakers.

Aleen Steinberg was raised by parents who put value on time spent out of doors and was taught to respect and revere the natural world at an early age. She attended the University of Wisconsin and later moved to Tampa, Florida, where she and her husband, Bill, made their home with children Jacquelyn and William.

The family discovered the fields and forests of Western North Carolina in the early 1960s, and soon after built a summer home in Cedar Mountain.

While actively serving on boards in both the hospital and mental health fields, her attention and volunteer efforts turned to environmental activism after reading Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring.” She subsequently helped lead the fight to save both the Green Swamp in Florida and DuPont State Recreational Forest in NC from incompatible development.

Aleen served as Vice President on the founding board of Muddy Sneakers and served on other environmental and philanthropic boards in both Florida and NC, including Friends of DuPont Forest.

She was an adventure traveler who rafted rivers and climbed mountains on six continents. During these trip, she often lived with indigenous people in tepees, igloos, yurts and gers, where she sought – and found – the humanness that binds people of all cultures together.

Aleen was a firm believer in Bradley Miller’s philosophy, that “teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.”