Obituaries

Gwendolyn Stephenson Remembered as 'A Great President of HCC'

Gwendolyn W. Stephenson died June 13 after a two-year battle with cancer. She was the longest-serving president of Hillsborough Community College.

 

During his tenure as superintendent of Hillsborough County public schools, Earl Lennard worked on many projects with Gwendolyn Stephenson, 69, who at the time was president of Hillsborough Community College.

"She was a great president of HCC," Lennard said in a telephone interview today, June 13, after learning that Stephenson had died earlier in the day after a two-year battle with cancer. "She was student-oriented her whole entire career."

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That career is one for the record books.

Born in 1943, Stephenson is remembered as the longest-serving president in the history of Hillsborough Community College. She was in the job for 33 years, from 1977 until her retirement in June 2010.

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"We were able to work collaboratively on several articulation programs that benefited students," Lennard said, in reference to his work with Stephenson as Hillsborough schools superintendent. "She was always focused on students and what was in the best interests of students."

In announcing Stephenson's death, college officials noted in a news release that Stephenson "is widely recognized for bringing stability to the institution after decades of turmoil at the college."

Quoted in the news release is Stephenson's successor and sitting Hillsborough Communitiy College president, Ken Atwater.

"Her strong sense of fairness and ethics, and her unwavering commitment to excellence, transformed this institution and made it the pillar of quality education that it is today," he said. "At a time when many would shy from the challenge of running this well-storied college, she ran toward it and met it head-on with grace and dignity."

Lennard said Stephenson was "a good person" with "a good sense of humor."

"She was a good friend, an absolutely exemplary person," he added. "She'll be missed by her family and the community and the community will be better off for her services here."

Stepehenson is survived by her husband, Steve; son, Jason (and his wife, Laura); daughter, Marion Smith (and her husband, Fred); and two grandchildren, Hunter and Walker.

The college family planned for an HCC memorial June 14. A public memorial for Stephenson will be held later this summer. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that gifts in support of the Dr. Gwendolyn Stephenson Endowment be made to the HCC Foundation, at 39 Columbia Drive, Tampa. The fund supports HCC students with financial need.

 


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