Necrology

Stephen “Tuna” William Flores '74

May. 24, 1952-Aug. 18, 2024

After he became a devotee of a certain type of canned fish as an alternative to Commons food during his freshman year, Stephen William Flores ’74 was henceforth known to many, and nicknamed at his own urging, as “Tuna.” He died on Aug. 18, 2024, in Peconic, N.Y. Born in Brooklyn on May 24, 1952, he came to Hamilton from the Poly Prep Country Day School.

On the Hill, Tuna was an Independent who created his own major: theatrical design, having originally imagined careers in medicine or engineering. At different times he was a staff member of The Spectator, The Hamiltonian, and WHCL. He played on the lacrosse team and joined the Outing Club during his freshman year, and was part of The Charlatans and played intramural football all four years.

Notably gregarious, Tuna made a number of friends among both Hamilton and Kirkland students, some 15 of whom organized into a group they called “The League of Loons.” Many members lived off campus at the Griffin Road Apartments, including Tuna during his senior year, creating, in effect, an independent fraternity. Among their activities was betting which teams would come out on top in major league baseball each season.

After graduating with honors in theatre and drama, Tuna returned to Brooklyn and immediately founded T‘n’T Contracting Co., and later began a career in graphic design, taking courses at the Pratt Institute in Manhattan to supplement art classes taken on the Hill to prepare. 

Having relocated to lower Manhattan in 1978, he went to work for his father’s company, Marsden Reproductions Inc., in media design and production as well as in photography. His work took him overseas to several countries including India, Korea, Japan, Peru (where he apprenticed with herbalists of the indigenous Matés people), and Britain, where he directed films and video. By 1990, he had become Marsden’s vice president and creative director.

Of particular significance was his becoming reacquainted with Pat Gorman, whom he had first met on the Hill when she presented a January term course in theatre. Subsequently, she too had become a graphic designer and co-founded the Manhattan Design Co. where, among her other accomplishments, she created the MTV logo and designed album covers for such bands as Talking Heads, REM, Billy Idol, and Duran Duran. She was also a master of T’ai Chi, founding both a school and a foundation to promote its health benefits. Tuna and Patty were married on the Indonesian island of Bali on Sept. 16, 1989. Upon their return to the U.S., they held a second marriage ceremony on Shelter Island, which was attended by many of his Loon League friends who stayed for a weekend of celebration. The couple then lived in lower Manhattan.

Finding his work at Marsden increasingly stressful, Tuna changed course again, emulating Pat who had taken up a new career as an acupuncturist. She had trained at the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in Maryland and the College of Traditional Acupuncture in the United Kingdom. In turn, Tuna studied at the latter institution as well as at two in Florida: the Worsley Institute of Classical Acupuncture and the Academy for Five Element Acupuncture. The two of them established Five Element Acupuncture NYC in Manhattan in the early 1990s. By 2006, they had expanded, establishing a second practice in Bridgehampton, N.Y., where they purchased a second home. 

In both locations, they specialized in treating emotional and fertility issues as well as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, and the adverse side effects of Western medical treatments and surgery. Tuna specialized in treating older women who wished to become pregnant. In many instances, his interventions led to good outcomes, and their collective work caught the attention of others, leading to their co-teaching courses on these subjects at the Swedish Institute College of Health Science in New York as well as lecturing on them at various schools and institutions. 

Sadly, following a long illness, Patty Gorman died in November 2018. Subsequently, while visiting his parents in Vero Beach, Fla., in 2019, Tuna encountered Elizabeth Head K’75, whom he had known on the Hill: for a time, she dated his roommate. She had retired to Vero Beach after a career as an attorney for the Federal Aviation Administration. They renewed their friendship, sharing their enthusiasm for music and Broadway shows, and eventually became partners, dividing their time between Bridgehampton and Vero Beach.

Tuna’s interests were many and varied. He liked to scuba dive and fish, on one occasion landing (guess what?) a 680-pound bluefin tuna near Montauk Point, Long Island. He often took friends and patients out into the ocean to see sunsets and, on occasion, fireworks. His boat was large enough to accommodate overnight guests as well. Photography was a longstanding interest as were skiing and hunting, and he continued to attend theatre productions both on and off Broadway.

Tuna served the College on various occasions through contributions to the Hamilton Fund in support of the performing arts and the athletic facilities. In 1989, he participated in a seminar on public relations and advertising during the course of which he encouraged students to seek internships in the field as undergraduates, in a way presaging the kind of engagement that is now routine for students on the Hill. 

Among his mentors were Frederick Wagner of the English Department and Paul R. Cooper, who was the director of the theatre program.

Stephen “Tuna” Flores is survived by his partner, Elizabeth Head, his brother, a nephew, and many of those constituting the League of Loons.

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