Dr. William D. (Bill) Stephens — rocket scientist, respected leader, race car driver, tennis player, scuba diver, Egyptologist, snow skier, palm reader, wine maker, poet, poker player, yachtsman, sharpshooter, fisherman, master negotiator, maker of memories and hopeless romantic — died Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. He was 90.

Born Nov. 17, 1932, to Claude E and Lillian Cole Stephens in Paris, Tennessee, Bill was raised in Charleston, South Carolina; Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Louisville, Kentucky. He graduated from Western Kentucky then earned his PhD in chemistry at Vanderbilt University. He had a long and successful career at Thiokol Chemical Corporation in Huntsville, Alabama, then Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Akron, Ohio, then back to Thiokol in Huntsville. He went on to work for Atlantic Research in Washington, DC, before returning again to Huntsville in 1983, as director of propulsion for the US Army Missile Command (MICOM) until his retirement in 1998. During that time, he also served for 18 months as associate director of technology for MICOM’s Research, Development and Engineering Center, managing all areas of research and exploratory development.

An internationally recognized authority in investigation of explosions and accidents, Dr. Stephens was chosen to direct the 1985 technical investigation of the catastrophic explosion of a US Pershing in Germany. During 1987, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State Department assigned Dr. Stephens to lead the US technical team negotiating the INF Disarmament Treaty with representatives of the USSR in Geneva, Switzerland. Under his leadership in 1993, a five-year cooperative development program with Japan was started, followed by programs with the governments of Egypt, France, South Korea and Israel.

Dr. Stephens served twice as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the joint Army-Navy-Air Force Propulsion Committee (JANNAF). Other professional accomplishments included being granted or named on more than 20 patents ranging from incorporation of bucky balls in solid rocket fuels to gel-based fire suppressants.

He was preceded in death by his parents and sister Steve-Anna Bird. He is survived by brother, Charles Stephens (partner Anne Brown) of Fort Gratiot, Michigan, and his children, Dan Stephens (Lisa) of Batavia, Illinois, Steve-Anna Stephens of Tucson, Arizona, and Jenny Stephens (partner Kevin Robling), Bloomington, Indiana, as well as grandchildren Dani (and Hesham Nouh), Nate Stephens and Jon Stephens, and great-grandchildren Mia and Rami Nouh.

A longtime resident of Huntsville, Alabama, Bill lived in Fayetteville, Tennessee, from 2016 until January 2023, when he moved into assisted living to be close to his youngest daughter in Indiana. Following cremation, his children will lay his ashes to rest in Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama. There will be no public service.