Democrat-Gazette biz journalist Steed dies at 62

Stephen Steed, a business journalist at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, died Sunday at the age of 62.

Kyle Massey of Arkansas Business writes, “He was 62 and lived in Little Rock. For the past few weeks he had been working as the wire service editor for the Democrat-Gazette’s business section. He had been working from home amid long-term health problems and told several colleagues that complications from a leg amputation had hurt his ability to report in the field. The desk job was better suited to his condition, he said. At the time of his death, Steed was also being treated for cancer.

“‘He was probably one of the best writers I’ve ever known, a great storyteller,’ said Rachel O’Neal, who noticed Steed’s failure to clock in from home on Monday and discovered the body after driving to his apartment to check on him. ‘I’m still in shock,” she said. ‘I have a brother, but Stephen was like another brother to me.’

“A business and farm reporter since joining the Democrat-Gazette in 2016, Steed was a proud native of Leachville in extreme northeast Arkansas, and was a childhood subject in Ripley’s Believe It or Not. He and both his brothers were all born on the same date in separate years.”

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