Lawrence Township Trustee Mike Stevens dies at age 72

LAWRENCE TWP. – Longtime township Trustee Mike Stevens died unexpectedly Wednesday, his wife and a trustee confirmed.

He was 72 years old.

Stevens was the president of the board of trustees. Besides serving as Lawrence Township trustee from 1991 to 1999 and since 2002, Stevens was for a few months of 2000, the state representative for what was then the 50th Ohio House District. He also was a manager for Clay's Park Resort for more than 30 years before he stepped down in 2006.

"He passed away quickly at home," his wife Diana Stevens said. “I can’t give an exact reason because I don’t know.”

Trustee Keith Blowers said the township's fiscal officer, Cynthia Meismer, informed him Thanksgiving morning that Stevens had died.

"We all feel terrible for his family," Blowers said. "I know it was a great loss for them and unexpected."

Trustee Sean Roseman said Monday he received a text message from Meisner on Wednesday night. She had heard from the Lawrence Township police department that paramedics had rushed Stevens due to a medical situation to Summa Health System Barberton Campus earlier that evening. Stevens was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Both Blowers and Roseman won elections to be trustees over two incumbents in November 2021 and took office in early January.

“It’s a terrible sad situation," said Roseman. "Mike’s got a lot of experience as a trustee. Keith and I are new to the township. His experience there has been very helpful the last 11 months since we’ve been there.”

Special meeting set to discuss trustee vacancy

Blowers and Trustee Sean Roseman have scheduled a special trustees meeting 2:30 p.m. Monday at Township Hall. They are set to discuss what they'll do to determine whom they'll appoint to succeed Stevens. By state law, if a township trustee's seat becomes vacant, the two other trustees appoint the successor.

Roseman said his understanding is he and Blowers have 30 days by law to choose a new trustee. He said Steven's term was to end by the end of 2023. So whomever they appoint would have to seek to be elected in November to hold the seat past 2023.

"It will be very difficult to replace him," said Blowers. "As to how that process will be like, we haven't had time to get together to speak about it."

"Mike was a very fair, very level-headed guy," he added. "He brought a lot of wealth of knowledge and experience to the table. He was a longtime trustee of the township. ... Definitely a loss to the township and the people he served for a long time. ... He was a very honest. A very fair person who really cared about the township and the employees in the different departments. The police, roads, fire. He was very generous and very concerned about the people who worked with him.”

Roseman said Stevens this year helped shape the agreement between the township and the North Lawrence Fire Department to provide fire service to the township.

Mike Stevens' political background

In 2000, then-State Rep. Johnnie Maier, a Democrat, stepped down from representing the 50th District after he was elected Massillon Municipal Clerk of Court. Ohio House Democrats appointed Stevens, a Democrat, to succeed him. But Stevens was unable to hold the seat in the statehouse in Columbus months later in the November 2000 election against Republican challenger John Hagan, a Marlboro Township trustee. Hagan served in the Ohio House the four maximum consecutive terms.

In 2003, Stevens prevailed in a primary to become the Democratic nominee when seeking to be a Stark County commissioner. But he lost in the general election to Republican incumbent Jane Vignos.

According to his obituary, Stevens was the second of five children of James and Evangelia Stevens who lived in the unincorporated community of Middlebranch. He graduated from Glenwood High School in 1968 and Kent State University in 1972. Starting his career as a teacher at Jackson High School in 1972, he would go on to work in 1974 for Clay's Resort. During his decades there, he was a waterfront director, picnic coordinator and general manager.

His obituary says later in his career, he worked for the Stark County Auditor's office and as a superintendent of the Massillon Road Department, from where he retired in 2012.

Besides his wife, he leaves behind two daughters and three grandchildren.

Calling hours will be 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Swigart-Easterling Funeral Home in Canal Fulton. Stevens' family will have a private celebration of life at a later date.

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. Twitter: @rwangREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Mike Stevens dies after 28 years of being Lawrence Township trustee