Stephens, Father of AEAs, Passes Away

We received news this week that Dr. E. Robert Stephens died peacefully on Feb. 8, 2017. Bob always deflected attention and praise, and in that light, he has requested that no funeral or memorial services be held. You can find his obituary online at the Lensing Funeral Home of Iowa City. If you want to post a comment or remembrance, you can do so on their site.



For those not familiar with Bob Stephens, he wrote the original legislative language to create Iowa's AEAs. He also served nationally on the Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA) Board. The AESA has three national awards that honor individuals, and one is named after Bob. He was truly a champion for education, especially for educational service agencies. He was relentless in his pursuit to serve students and staff. We’ve lost a giant in our field, and he will be missed.


Photo: AEA chief administrators presented Bob Stephens with an award as being a “Friend of the AEAs.”