Christian Wayne Skeem

Christian Wayne Skeem passed away suddenly after a brief illness. He was born November 1, 1956 in Jerome and died September 11, 2012 in Twin Falls. He was preceded in death by both his maternal and paternal grandparents: Charley and Elva Christensen of Wendell and Christian and Irene Skeem of Castleford. His little sister Lori, 18 months his junior, passed away when she was four years old in 1962. After graduating in 1980 from Brigham Young University in International Relations and Italian. He went on to attended Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy and Washington, DC. Most of Christian's professional life has centered on developing successful entrepreneurial enterprises which began in the field of language translation. From 1980-1984 he was on continuous contract with the U.S. State Department as an Italian translator and diplomatic tour guide while also doing freelance interpretation/translation work for dozens of service and governmental agencies including Berlitz, the Department of Defense, the CIA, and the Department of Justice. He became convinced that the adoption of new technologies such as fax machines and early email systems were vital to improving the efficiency and reducing the costs of written translations. As a result, he founded GlobaLink, Inc. and was subsequently recruited to manage Euramerica, Inc., the largest translation firm in New York City, and perhaps in the United States at the time. In 1983, he and his business partner, Sean Susanin, started an auction house, SUSANIN'S Auctions, based in Chicago that has grown into the largest fine art auction house in the Midwest. While still active in the business at the time of his death, Christian was semi-retired and living near family in Twin Falls. Close surviving relatives include: Christian's children Massimo (Emma) Renke of Chevy Chase, Maryland; Richard Skeem of Twin Falls; and Giulia Skeem of Chicago; one grandchild, Naima Skeem of Chicago; parents, Wayne and Arlene Skeem of Twin Falls; and siblings Susan (Les) Payne of Park City; Dan Skeem of Preston; Tom (Jill) Skeem of Kimberly; Cindra (Terry) Eardley of Monticello; Jill (McKay) Lundgren of Buhl; Rebecca Dixon of Twin Falls. A celebration of Christian's life will be held on Saturday, September 15, 2012 at 1:00 P.M. at the Shoshone Falls in the Snake River Canyon. Those who wish may make memorial contributions to the Christian Skeem Memorial Fund, C/O Richard Skeem, 485 Hankins Rd, Twin Falls, ID 83301.