Don Stevens spent his life fighting unpopular fights.
An MSU trustee from 1958-78, Stevens was instrumental in the hiring of Clifton Wharton, MSU’s first black president.
Stevens died Friday at age 87.
“Don Stevens was the kind of guy who always kept his word,” Wharton said. “There was tremendous pressure brought to bear on him and he resisted it.”
In 1969, a faculty and student search committee was formed to find MSU’s next leader. It came down to two candidates - Wharton and former Gov. G. Mennen Williams. Through his work with the Michigan AFL-CIO, Stevens was very close to Williams. But the committee favored Wharton, which caused some problems for Stevens, daughter Peggie Peoples said.
“I have my first communion picture with Governor Williams,” she said. “My dad was in a precarious position.”
Peoples said her father had promised to abide by the committee’s recommendation - and he held true to his word.
“They were very good friends but it just wasn’t right at that time, so my dad couldn’t support him,” she said.
The decision to hire Wharton led Stevens to leave the labor organization he had served for 23 years, Peoples said.
“He did resign and he never tried to speak ill of the AFL-CIO,” she said. “He just did what he thought was right and he was going to face the consequences.”
Stevens took a position at the University of Minnesota and commuted to his home in Okemos, until he later took a job at Oakland University in Rochester.
“My dad was never bitter,” Peoples said. “He did what he thought was right and he let the rest go.”
Fighting for his convictions put Stevens in the spotlight, daughter Sylvia Stevens-Berenson said.
“He was always in one squabble or another,” she said. “He was speaking for the issues that are important to people - to everyone.”
But he still found time for his family.
“He would sometimes be spending late hours in meetings, around the clock,” Stevens-Berenson said. “But he always showed up at whatever athletic games or music concerts we had. He always made it.”
Chairperson of the Board of Trustees from 1968-70, Stevens witnessed some turbulent times on campus.
“He would come home concerned about it,” Stevens-Berenson said. “He would say, ‘Come with me, come join this demonstration, come join this march.’”
In 1969, Stevens-Berenson was a freshman at the University of Michigan. She called her father one day, not sure if she should join a demonstration or go to class.
“He said, ‘Yeah, get out there. You’ll make up your classes. This is more important now,’” she said. “He was always educating us about these types of issues.”
Stevens was married for 65 years to Wendy Stevens. In addition the their four children, the Stevens’ have numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Visitation is today from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. at Palmer-Bush Delta Chapel, 6020 W. Saginaw Hwy. in Lansing. A funeral mass will be celebrated 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. John Student Parish, 327 M.A.C. Ave.
