Stephen Warnke (1961-2026)

June 2026
By Daryl G. Kimball

Stephen Warnke, 65, a member of the Arms Control Association Board of Directors, died unexpectedly May 13 while traveling in England with his wife, Susan Sommer. He was recently retired from a quarter-century career with the New York law firm Ropes & Gray and looking forward to enjoying life and helping make the world better.

As Stephen’s son, Paul, wrote in a message to us, Stephen “was passionate about ACA and its mission and was excited to serve on ACA’s board with the vigor and dedication he approached so many endeavors in his life. Supporting ACA was his way of carrying forward his father’s legacy—their shared dedication to a principled U.S. foreign policy and making the world a safer place.”

“Above all, my dad was overjoyed that I have committed my career to the immensely challenging yet rewarding pursuit of nuclear peace,” he added. (Paul Warnke is a senior program officer with the Nuclear Threat Initiative Nuclear Policy Program.)

Stephen’s late father, Paul C. Warnke, was a major figure in the field of nuclear arms control and disarmament, a mentor to many younger experts and professionals in the field, and also a member of ACA’s Board of Directors until his death in 2001. ACA held a major conference in his honor in 2004 at Georgetown University, where his papers are archived.

Stephen’s death is a devastating loss. Our hearts go out to the Warnke family, Stephen’s innumerable friends, and longtime colleagues at Ropes & Gray, where Stephen was a well-respected and in-demand healthcare attorney.

As his Ropes & Gray associates recalled in their remembrance, his active pro bono practice extended his impact by improving healthcare quality, expanding access for underserved groups, and fighting for greater transparency in healthcare costs and insurance information. He was at the forefront of New York’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, playing an instrumental role in establishing an emergency standard of care for patients surging into hospitals in the pandemic’s earliest days. His work eased suffering and saved lives. Quite simply, Stephen was a wonderful person: kind, extremely smart, and very committed to making things better for others, as best he could.

A memorial celebration will be held June 16 at 4 p.m. at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, 172 Norfolk Street, New York City.