Russell Arthur Stevens, age 82 of Brockton, died peacefully on March 3, 2023 surrounded by family at South Shore Hospital.
Brockton through and through, Russ was born and raised in the city as the son of the late Reginald and Evelyn (Casavant) Stevens.
He attended Sacred Heart Elementary School in Brockton as a bilingual French-English student and was a graduate of Braintree’s Archbishop Williams High School, where he made and sustained (as his class’s frequent reunion organizer) lifelong friendships. Russ graduated from Northeastern University in 1966 with a BA and master’s in mathematics.
Sports was a throughline in Russ’s life and relationships. He taught himself golf at 18 and played every Saturday at Brockton’s DW Field Golf Course well into his 70s. Russ played basketball for Northeastern’s freshman team, claiming to have successfully dunked a ball during a midseason practice. The claim was accepted but never verified. And if you were within earshot, you knew he played full-court pickup basketball until he was 60 – often pitted against his son Russell and son-in-law Tom in contests that were more competitive than necessary.
Russ began his long career in information technology in 1965 as an application programmer at IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY and progressed through the company as a systems engineer and marketing representative. In 1977 he moved to Commercial Union Insurance as an assistant vice president and then vice president of distribution systems. Retirement in 1999 brought Russ more time to golf and to debate sports with family at a holiday gathering or with friends at a pub, where “Bill Russell v. Wilt Chamberlin” might get someone invited outside for a longer discussion.
Russ is survived by his children Russell Stevens of Canton and Laura O’Neill of Foxboro and their spouses Jill Stevens and Thomas O’Neill, his four grandchildren Sean O’Neill, Olivia Stevens, Erin O’Neill and Corinne Stevens, and his sister Barbara Stevens of Beverly.
Visitation will be held in the Conley Funeral Home, 138 Belmont Street (Rte 123) Brockton on Friday, March 10, from 8:30-10am, followed by a Funeral Mass at Christ the King Church at 10:30am. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery.
At Russell’s request, donations in his name may be made to Archbishop Williams High School, in memory of Russell A. Stevens, 40 Independence Avenue, Braintree, MA 02184, for online donations click here