Joseph Thomas Szefi

There are people who bring a light to the world. Sometimes that light warms you, sometimes it brightens the dark, and sometimes it shines so brightly that it cannot last forever. Joe Szefi was all of them.

Born February 25, 1975 in Cleveland, Ohio, Joseph Thomas Szefi was a relentlessly curious and precocious child. He was a brilliant student, gifted athlete, and self-taught musician.

After graduating with the highest honors from Mt. Lebanon High School, he went on to receive his B.S., Masters and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University. Joe then founded and served as President of Invercon, LLC, where he applied his towering intellect to the field that provided him endless fascination and challenge. His work on anti-vibration concepts resulted in multiple patents, publications and applications in the defense sector. It was work that his family and friends, and often his peers, could never grasp. But Joe could make perfect sense of it.

He was a brilliant engineer, reliable contrarian, and a devoted stock market tinkerer who side projects included writing his own code to facilitate unconventional, data-driven investment strategies.

Joe was as charming as he was intelligent. He loved to learn, discuss, and debate until frustration, submission or epiphany arrived, somehow making you enjoy it...most of the time.

Joe met his match in his beloved wife Anne Marie (Klingerman), who loved the entire incandescent spectrum of light that he was. She fell fast and hard and her greatest solace is in knowing that their twins, Asher and Faraday, carry their father inside them, his face echoing in their own. They carry their forever love for him as they embody his forever love as well.

He is survived by his parents, Barbara and Kenneth, his brothers Michael (Darla) and Andrew (Melissa), his sister, Sarah (Justin), his nephews Samuel, Henry, Michael, Jr. and Brandon, and his nieces Sadie, Savannah, and Bria. They miss everything about him.

Joe Szefi dared boldly. He forged his own path. He disdained the routine and sought the challenging. He took risks most of us are too meek to consider, if we even see them at all. He was a beacon of light, unforgettable, irreplaceable, inimitable, ingenious, inventive, incomparable. But the price of genius can be high, the brightest light too much to sustain.

There are many lights in this world but it got darker when Joe’s light went out. We are left with cherished memories of a life too short, admiration, and love for our husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend.

We love you, Joe. We always will.

Family and friends welcome Friday, May 8th, from 4-8 PM and again Saturday, May 9th, from 10 AM until time of service at 12 PM at WILLIAM SLATER II FUNERAL SERVICE, 1650 Greentree Rd., Scott Twp., 15220 (412-563-2800). 

www.slaterfuneral.com