Matthew Steen

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Matthew Steen (born August 22, 1949, in San Francisco) is a former member of the Weather Underground and Students for a Democratic Society. He studied history at the University of California, Berkeley, and psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In 1972 he was indicted on federal charges of conspiracy and bank robbery to fund Weather Underground activities and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He served about three years and was released in 1974. In 1970 he also attempted to become an FBI informant regarding the Park Station bombing in San Francisco.

Steen gained national attention as the first former Weather Underground member to appear on TV, in a 60 Minutes segment with Mike Wallace in February 1976. The interview discussed his use of fake IDs and traveler's checks to steal money; he said he had created about 150 identities and earned roughly $50,000 to $100,000.

After his release, Steen entered public service. He was elected to the Isla Vista Municipal Advisory Council, led a Santa Barbara County Community Action Agency, and served on the Santa Barbara Community College District board. Returning to San Francisco, he worked on open-space and urban forest projects and helped keep the Palace of Fine Arts publicly accessible, preventing privatization. He also served on the Market–Octavia Citizens Advisory Committee and on the SF Shelter Monitoring Committee (2012–2016, as Vice-Chairman) and on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Citizens Advisory Committee (as Vice-Chairman).

With his partner Karen Jessica Evans, Steen focused on preserving open spaces and trees in San Francisco.