Stephen Warren Kaldor

April 22, 1962 – August 8, 2022

Stephen Warren Kaldor, 60, beloved husband, father, son, and brother, passed away peacefully at home on August 8, 2022.

A first generation American, Steve was born on April 22,1962, in Lafayette, Indiana to the late Ivan L. Kaldor, from Hungary, and Sheena M. Kaldor, from Scotland. He spent the majority of his childhood in Geneseo, New York, graduating from Geneseo Central School in 1980. Steve continued his education at Columbia University, obtaining a B.A. in Chemistry in 1984. During his undergraduate years, he also met and, on July 28,1984, wed Teresa K. Farnlacher, whom he remained married to for the rest of his life.

After attending and graduating from Harvard University with a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1990, Steve moved with Teresa to Indianapolis to start his career at Eli Lilly and Company as a chemist. During his time at Lilly, he helped create the HIV drug Viracept, the first of three marketed drugs which he would help co-invent, along with multiple other drugs which are currently undergoing clinical trials. Two years after moving to Indianapolis, Steve and Teresa welcomed their first and only child, Adam, on March 1, 1992.

After spending twelve years at Eli Lilly, Steve and his family moved to San Diego where Steve took on the role of CSO and later President at Syrrx, a diabetes and oncology drug discovery company that was acquired by Takeda in 2005. After two years with Takeda, Steve moved on to serve as CEO & President of the precision biologics venture Ambrx from 2007 to 2010, and then CEO & President of Quanticel Pharmaceuticals, a cancer drug discovery company, from 2010 until Quanticel was acquired by Celgene Corporation in 2015.

In 2016, Steve co-founded Fount Therapeutics, a sustainable drug discovery enterprise which gave rise to Kinnate Biopharma in 2018, a small molecule precision oncology company. Steve served as the founding CEO of Kinnate from 2018 through 2020 and held a position on its board through 2021, during which time Kinnate went through its initial public offering. Steve most recently co-founded the oncology and immunology company XinThera in 2021 and served as its chairman until his death.

During his time in San Diego, Steve also served as a board member of Amira Pharmaceuticals, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Crown Biosciences, and Furiex Pharmaceuticals, and acted as an advisor to FronThera Pharmaceuticals, Foresite Capital, Versant Ventures and Thomas, McNerney and Partners.

Throughout his career, Steve was passionate about drug discovery and the San Diego biotech community in particular, always looking for ways to create meaningful medicines and make a difference every day, both locally and globally. As Steve's career progressed, he increasingly focused on building the next generation of entrepreneurs so that they might move the biotech industry forward into the future. He was an inspiring leader, mentor, and friend to many, both within and outside of his field.

Outside of work, Steve was an avid golfer, a keen reader, a cat lover, a recent but fervent birder, a dedicated family man, and a faithful Christian. Believing strongly in serving the community, he contributed to efforts to build relationships between the church and local organizations, including serving on Calvary Lutheran Church's Mission Endowment Committee and helping coordinate Calvary Cares' collaboration with local schools. Steve also went out of his way to engage in other personal philanthropic endeavors, most significantly in the area of education.

He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Teresa, his son Adam, his mother Sheena, and his brothers Sean and George.

Donations in his memory may be given online to any of the following organizations: Calvary Cares - Mission Outreach at Calvary Lutheran Church ( www.calvarylutheranchurch.org/give ); the Cornell Lab of Ornithology ( https://give.birds.cornell.edu/page/7789/donate/ ); or the American Chemical Society - College Scholarships ( https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/donate/college-scholarships.html ).