Stephen Gates Knight

Stephen Gates Knight, 82, passed peacefully on the morning of September 16, 2022 of natural causes after suffering a recent hip fracture. Steve was born on May 5th, 1940 in Salt Lake City, Utah to his loving parents Gates and LaVerne Knight. He is the first of two children. Steve graduated from Olympus high School in 1958. After graduation, Steve attended the University of Utah where he joined the Phi Kappa Alpha fraternity where he made lifelong friendships that have continued until this day. Steve also joined the Army National Guard and served as a medic. His unit was called up during the Berlin Wall Crisis and he spent a year at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. During this time, Steve loved his time water skiing at Lake of the Ozarks and competing in the All-Church basketball tournament which brought him back to Salt Lake City for a week during his call up. Steve met his sweetheart Kathie Bradley Knight at the University of Utah and later graduated from LDS Business College. Steve married Kathie on September 27th, 1962 in the Logan LDS Temple.

See 2 Photos

Steve worked with his father in business for many years, and later took over the business, and was the president and owner of Knight Adjustment Bureau. Steve loved to work! He loved to go to work and especially enjoyed his relationships with his employees and clients. In fact, one of his last words were, “I’ve got to go to work”. He had an impeccable work ethic and was a great example to all who knew him. Steve had a sarcastic, funny sense of humor and he loved bantering back and forth with people, employees, friends, and especially his grandkids. Steve was the epitome of a thrill seeker who loved spending time in the outdoors including; beach start waterskiing, wave running at over 60 miles per hour, and dry track snowmobile racing with his daughters. But his true love was snowmobiling. He spent as much time on the mountain as he could where he climbed the steepest mountains and dropped into the deepest canyons long before the lightweight deep tract snowmobiles of today. Although, he loved his new sleds just as much as they were a lot less work to get to the top. Steve also was an avid sportsman. He played basketball with the “Nooners” at the Deseret Gym for over 20 plus years. Later, he took up racquetball and won many Masters level championships. Steve loved coaching his son’s (Brad) baseball and basketball youth teams. There was nothing he loved more than supporting his grandkids. There wasn’t a game, tournament, dance recital, or cheer event that he did not go to, and was mad if he missed even the smallest event or scrimmage. His support meant so much to his family.

Steve is preceded in death by his sweetheart Kathie Bradley Knight, his son Bradley Knight, and parents Gates and LaVerne Knight. He is survived by his sister, Bette Ann Kempe (Dave); and his three daughters, Nicole Knight, Kimberly Knight Quick (Bryan), and Stephanie Knight Broman (Ted); 14 grandchildren; and 1 great granddaughter.

A graveside service will be held at 1pm on Monday, September 19th at Larkin Sunset Gardens Cemetery at 1950 E. Dimple Dell Road (10600 S.) Sandy, UT 84092. We would like to thank all the nurses, doctors, nursing aides and staff at Cedarwood at Sandy for their sweet and gentle care of Steve for the past year. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Kathie Knight’s name.

For those unable to attend the graveside, the family invites you to join via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88338169884. A free Zoom account is required and you will need to sign in to join the service.