R. Bruce Stedman, retired Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, died peacefully at his home on Westport Island on February 2, 2013. 

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota on August 20, 1920, Bruce received his formal education at Harvard University, where he was president of the glee club and graduated magna cum laude in 1942, and as an officer in the Navy aboard a destroyer escort in the Pacific (1942-45). 

He will be remembered for his commitment to the ideals and work of the United Nations, his engagement in politics to serve the common good, his responsibility for and love of the natural world, his music making, story telling, wit, and wisdom. 

He joined the United Nations (UN) as it was forming in 1946 and served on three political missions in the Middle East: in Palestine in 1948 with Count Folke Bernadotte and Ralph Bunche; in Gaza in 1957-58 as Chief Administrative Officer of the UN Emergency Force; and, later in 1958, with the UN “Presence” in Amman, Jordan. 

His major service with the UN was with its Technical Assistance Board and then the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), as Director of Financial Management and Administrative Policy. From 1968 to 1975 he was UNDP’s Resident Representative in Kenya and Ethiopia. His final post was as Deputy Executive Director of the UN Environment Program, from 1975 to 1977, as it was being created in Nairobi, Kenya.

Bruce retired from the UN in 1977 and returned to the United States in 1979 to settle with his first wife, Ruth (nee Dexter), near their children and grandchildren in northwest Wisconsin. Following her death in 1991, he married Susan Goodwillie, a former UNDP colleague, in 1993. 

On moving to Maine in 1994, Bruce became an active member of the board of the United Nations Association of Maine and Lincoln County Democrats. He served on the Westport Island Planning Board, was an adult literacy tutor, and over many summers donated produce from his prodigious vegetable garden to local food pantries. He and Susie jointly taught courses at Mid-Coast Senior College. 

To his UN colleagues he imbued the value of international development assistance, enthusiasm for the ideals of the UN, a spirited work ethic, and the joy of belonging to a team. To his family, he was a rigorously honest pioneer who spoke truth to power in support of community and stewardship of the planet. 

For local newspapers wherever he lived he wrote op-eds in clear, pitiless prose, with a gracious, generous soul. He had the eye of a critic, the ear of a conductor, and the heart of a romantic poet. Occasionally wrong but never in doubt, he could laugh at himself and never lost his mischievous sparkle. He read Winnie the Pooh to his sons and, when they were grown, to other children.

He loved to fly-fish in the streams of northern Minnesota, the Aberdare Mountains of Kenya, and on his beloved Spider Lake in Wisconsin. In his last year, before winter's chill, Bruce spent his days outside, admiring songful birds flitting among the pines, a great blue heron who'd come for lunch in the pond, wild turkeys, an occasional deer, fox, or rabbit. On winter evenings, he warmed to a crackling fire, a dry martini, a little Mozart, and poetry. 

Bruce was predeceased by his parents, Alfred and Hazel Stedman; his brother, John; his first wife Ruth; and his son, Michael. 

He is survived by his wife, Susie; his sister, Carol Johansen of St. Paul, Minn.; his son, John (and Sharon) of Eau Claire, Wisc.; his son, Jim (and Billie) of Bend, Ore.; his son, Matthew (and Katie) of Manistee, Mich.; nine devoted grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and many friends and admirers.

There will be a summer celebration of Bruce's life around his beautiful vegetable garden at the Stedman home on Westport Island.

Donations in Bruce's memory may be made to the United Nations Association of Maine for the Bruce Stedman Model UN Scholarship. Checks should be made payable to UNA Maine and sent to UNA-Maine Chapter, P.O. Box 11556, Portland, ME 04104.