It is with deep sadness that we announce that Stephen passed away peacefully at home on Friday 26th June 2026, aged 89 years


Stephen was born in San Francisco on 6th August 1936, the eldest of three brothers. He was sent to Hotchkiss in Connecticut for high school but was back in his beloved California to take a  BA at Stanford. Steve had a postgraduate place at Berkeley but, before taking it up, he and a friend took the boat from New York to travel in Europe for the Summer of 1958.  Some chance encounters found him instead registering for an MA at Cardiff, and then a PhD in Manchester. He built his successful career at Edinburgh, UCL and Sussex Universities researching and writing books on the American experience and literature. He loved the work and his colleagues, many of whom became close friends. Teaching students about the literature and ideas that meant so much to him was something he believed to be infinitely worthwhile. 

                                          

In 1964 he married Buffy, whom he had met in Cardiff; they shared a love of music, and both were talented players; Steve played the violin in amateur orchestras, the double bass in jazz bands, and even a sousaphone in the Stanford Marching Band. They also loved Italy and spent most summers there with good friends and their four children Tom, Matthew, Owen and Anna, who were all born in the 1970s into their Elmwood Road family home. Steve was a bon viveur, loving to cook for friends and family, many of whom would come round at the weekend for a meal, a tradition he loved and meant he saw many of his treasured grandchildren regularly.  He liked routine. Every morning since the 70s, he’d followed the 5BX Canadian Air Force fitness plan, and Saturday mornings would usually find him up at his allotment; frequently quoting Arthur Miller’s Willy Loman, he wanted to put something “in the ground”.  A compelling work ethic found him at his desk every weekday morning; he always liked to be writing. Recently, after completing his edition of The Spoils of Poynton, he worked on some memoirs (1930s -1980s). Six pm would often find him celebrating the end of the working day with a cocktail. A lifetime Labour supporter and Guardian reader, he never missed a news bulletin or, latterly, the latest edition of “The Rest is Politics”. After Buffy died in 2010, he spent many happy years with his partner Jenny Wall.