Richard S. Stevens — co-owner and president of the Balboa Bay Club in the 1960s and 1970s, a commissioner for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and developer of resorts and clubs throughout the world — died at home early Thursday morning in his sleep. He was 80.
Stevens was born July 4, 1930, in Long Beach to Margaret Virginia and Merrill Emerson Stevens. He attended high school in South Pasadena and studied at UC Berkeley, where he also was a running back on the football team and a player in the Rose Bowl three times. He had football and track scholarships.
After graduating in 1951, Stevens served in the U.S. Army in Japan and Korea in the early 1950s. Later he returned to Southern California and became a businessman with a flair for the resort industry.
"He was just that person who loves the deal," said his daughter, Sandra Stevens Weston. "He had an incredible way of putting people together. It was fun to work with him. He always had irons in the fire."