Shipping executive Stevenson, 88, dies

Shipping executive Stevenson, 88, dies    T.J. Stevenson Jr., former president of T.J. Stevenson and Co Inc., a family-owned, New York-based shipping company, died June 24 at the age of 88. He lived in Tobyhanna, Pa., and Melbourne, Fla.
   Andrew Stevenson, his son, a shipping executive at APL, said Stevenson Line was one of the firms that emerged from the surplus of merchant ships after World War II, what he called the “golden age of New York shipping.”
   Stevenson Line owned and operated four Liberty Ships between the U.S. and the Mediterranean, playing a role in the rebuilding of post-war Europe. The company also represented many foreign steamship lines as general agent.
   The Stevenson family also managed Ocean Freighting and Brokerage Corp., a chartering and brokerage firm. Later in his career, Stevenson was president of Korea Shipping America. He retired in 1987.
   Stevenson was a governor of the Downtown Athletic Club, one of principal gathering spots for shipping executives in lower Manhattan for many years.
   Stevenson served in the Navy during World War II and was communications officer on the destroyer-escort Samuel B. Roberts, which was sunk by the Japanese fleet in October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He survived two days floating in shark-infested waters and earned two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.
   He leaves behind his wife, Virginia, nine children, 24 grandchildren and one great grandchild.
   There will be a wake, at Bolock’s Funeral home in Paradise Valley.- Mt Pocono, Pa. on Monday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 8:30 p.m., and a funeral mass Tuesday at 10 a.m. at St. Ann’s on Main St. in Tobyhanna.
   In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the St Ann’s Church in Tobyhanna.