Born Steven John Szawlowski on November 16, 1918 in Hamilton, New York, Steve Shaw became a high school teacher and was drafted and served in World War II in 1940. Following the war, Shaw received his Masters and Ph.D from New York University. Has professorial career spanned from 1957 until 1989 where he taught business administration courses in Marketing at Tulane University, The University of Florida, the University of Washington, and finally at the University of South Carolina where he was chair of the Marketing Department and the Executive Director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research. He authored four books and more than thirty articles in the subject of Marketing, and in 2002, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Marketing Advances.

Dr. Shaw was active in South Carolina chess for more than three decades spanning the late 1950s to the early 1990s. He won the title of Southern Chess Champion in 1957 and later served as secretary of the Southern Chess Association in the early 1960s. In 1963, Dr. Shaw competed at the South Carolina State Championship held at the Joel Poinsett Hotel in Greenville on Nov. 27-Dec. 1, 1963, where he finished in clear first place with a score of 4.5/5.0. Dr. Shaw was also runner-up the following year in 1964. In 1975, he was elected president of the Palmetto Chess Club--the Columbia Chess Club's predecessor. He continued to compete in tournaments in South Carolina and regularly attended the Palmetto Chess Club until 1991, when he moved to Miami, Florida in retirement.

Dr. Shaw was also an avid volunteer with Partners of the Americas, the largest non-profit organization between the United States and Latin America. The South Carolina Chapter of Partners of the America helped institutions in Colombia, South America via an an exchange program of professionals in different fields, and many projects were developed from 1976-1991. 

Dr. Shaw passed away on September 25, 2003. He is buried at Vista Memorial Gardens in Miami Lakes, Florida.