Jackson T Stephens

Jack Stephens was born on August 9, 1923 in Grant County, Ark., the youngest of six children. He died early Saturday afternoon at his Little Rock home. He grew up on a farm near Prattsville during the great Depression. His father, A.J. Stephens once told his young son, "It's no disgrace to be poor, it's a disgrace to stay poor." Jack Stephens worked on the family farm behind a mule drawn plow and picking cotton. By age 15, he held summer jobs as a bellhop and shoeshine boy at the Barlow Hotel in Hope, Ark. Mr. Stephens attended public schools in Prattsville and graduated high school from Columbia Military Academy in Columbia, Tenn. He attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. (Class of '47.) Poor eyesight prevented Mr. Stephens from active duty in the Navy so he took a job offered to him on his graduation day by his brother W.R. "Witt" Stephens. With a simple handshake in his room at Annapolis, Mr. Stephens agreed to join his brother in Little Rock at a municipal bond house. Witt was outgoing, a natural salesman. Jack was quiet, unassuming and studious. A decade later, in 1956, Jack became an equal partner with his brother and became President and Chief Executive Officer the following year. (1957.) The two brothers acquired the Fort Smith Gas Company and renamed it the Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Company. The pair also acquired an oil and gas exploration firm and named it Stephens Production Company. Both investments proved to be the catalyst for expansion from a municipal bond business to a diversified financial group that became Stephens Inc. Jack Stephens served as President and CEO of Stephens Inc. from 1957 until 1986 when Stephens Group, Inc. was formed and became the parent company of Stephens Inc. His son, Warren, assumed the leadership of Stephens Inc. at that time. Mr. Stephens became Chairman of Stephens Group, Inc. that year, a title he carried for the remainder of his life. For over 20 years Jack Stephens has been the principal benefactor for The Delta Project, a program designed to assist and educate underprivileged children in Arkansas' delta. When he sold the Little Rock cable franchise in 1985, he put the profits into the City Educational Trust Fund. For 20 years the Trust Fund has provided scholarships for students and incentive awards for innovative teachers. His gift of $48 million built the Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute on the campus of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and financed the purchase of equipment for the institute as well as support programs and research. The Stephens family has been a life long supporter of the Arkansas Arts Center and Jack Stephens donated a portion of his personal art collection to the Center as a permanent display. The Stephens Gallery currently boasts the works of Degas, Monet, Picasso, Wyeth and more. The Stephens display, valued at $22 million at the time of the gift, has been recognized as one of the most important art collections in the country. It is perhaps the finest art collection in the nation for a city the size of Little Rock. Mr. Stephens was also the lead contributor for the construction of a new 30,000 square foot wing at the Arkansas Arts Center. The Episcopal Collegiate School, the campus of which bears his name, occupies 31 acres near downtown Little Rock. The total amount of this gift has never been made public but Mr. Stephens donated the money to purchase the land that comprises the campus. In April 2004, he donated $20 million of the announced $30 million endowment for the school. His son Warren and Warren's wife, Harriet, donated the remainder of the gift. The list of contributions to his community also includes a $5 million endowment to Harding University, establishment of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, and the Bill and Skeeter Dickey Scholarship at the University of Arkansas Athletic Department. Mr. Stephens's love of sports (football and golf in particular) led to a $10 million gift to the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation in Annapolis, Md. The donation funded the renovation at the Navy Marine Corp Stadium near the campus which has been renamed Jack Stephens Field. When asked by the PGA TOUR if he would support the launching of a new program to teach golf and its values to children by creating affordable and accessible golf facilities, Mr. Stephens surpassed their expectations with a $5 million donation to help start The First Tee. The program serves children who have not previously been exposed to the game of golf. In 1962, Mr. Stephens was invited to become a member of the Augusta National Golf Club. Mr. Stephens served as its fourth Chairman (1991-1998) with the responsibility of overseeing the golf club and the most prestigious tournament in golf, the Masters. After turning over the duties of chairman to Hootie Johnson in 1998, Mr. Stephens was named Chairman Emeritus. Mr. Stephens was honored with the Horatio Alger Award in 1980 and he was the first recipient of the J. William Fulbright Award given for international trade development in 1989. Mr. Stephens served on the board of the Little Rock Boys Club, The Quapaw Council of The Boy Scouts of America. He served 10 years on the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees. Jack Stephens is survived by two sons: Jackson T. "Steve" Stephens, Jr; Warren Stephens, and his wife, Harriet Stephens; six grandchildren: Caroline Stephens, Jackson T. Stephens III, Mason Stephens, Miles Stephens, John Stephens and Laura Stephens; two great-grandchildren: Sydney Stephens and Bruce Stephens, Jr.; and two adopted children: Kerry LaNoche and James Stephens. Mr. Stephens is also survived by two sisters: Jewel Mays of Prattsville, Arkansas and Wilma Thornton of Searcy, Ark.