UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

 ORAL HISTORY PROJECT


Interviewee: Richard B. Stephens
Interviewer: Denise Stobbie
June 7, 1985


 Richard Badenoch Stephens is professor emeritus of law at
the University of Florida. He served on the faculty of the
College of Law from 1949 to 1977 and is considered the founding
father of the Graduate Tax Program. He is the author of a number
of books, including coauthoring Fundamentals of Federal Income
Taxation, 6th ed., 1987. In 1985 he was selected Tax Lawyer of
the Year by the Tax Section of the Florida Bar.

 Stephens was raised in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of
Chicago. In high school he lettered in basketball and cofounded
the golf team. Stephens credits an English teacher, John
Gehlman, for teaching him debate procedure. After high school he
enrolled at the University of Rochester on a four-year
scholarship. He majored in English and graduated in 1939.
Stephens wanted to teach English, but his father suggested that
he look into business or law. He then attended law school at the
University of Michigan, where he graduated in 1942.

 Stephens then enlisted in the U.S. Navy and completed
midshipman school that year. Training in judo caused him
problems with vision and headaches, and he took a medical
discharge the next year. He then entered into practice with the
prestigious tax firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, DC.
In 1945 Stephens worked with Charles Fahy, who was the solicitor
general of the U.S. and legal advisor to General Eisenhower. He
worked in Berlin on forming the quadrapartite government in
postwar Germany.

 Stephens came to the University of Florida in 1949. In the
interview he discusses taxation as it was handled by accountants
in the past and presently by lawyers. He also discusses the
beginnings of the tax program at the College of Law and the
dealings with law school, Graduate School, and UF
administrations. The genesis of the Law Review, as headed by
George J. Miller, is also recounted.

 Stephens has been married to his wife Barbara since 1943,
and they have a daughter, Susan, and a son, Richard, Jr., as well
as five grandchildren. In his spare time, Stephens enjoys golf
(his house overlooks the UF golf course), writing and editing,
managing his investments, walks with his wife and Labrador
retriever Maggie, and reading three newspapers a day.