Stephen Francis Coyle

1945 - 2023

Coyle

Stephen Francis Coyle

On Monday, December 18, 2023, Stephen Francis Coyle passed away peacefully in his home. Visionary planner for the City of Boston; champion of union labor and affordable housing in the U.S. and abroad; emissary of peace in Northern Ireland; beloved husband of 53 years to Maria Lynn (Chaffee); loving father of Lisa Grace, William Joseph (Simone) and Elena Maria (Christopher Philippou); cherished "Pa" of Evan Joseph and Elise Marie (Coyle), and of Maria Elena, Julia Michele and Jamie Stephen (Philippou); uncle and great uncle to many dear nieces and nephews.



Stephen was born in Waltham, Massachusetts on September 28, 1945, the son of the late Margaret Mary (Flaherty) and William Joseph Coyle. Stephen was the 10th born of 14 children (thirteen of whom lived, ten who survived to adulthood). He is preceded in death by his brothers Robert Emmet, William Joseph Jr. and Bernard Arnold and his sister Michelle Anne, and survived by his brothers Brian, Michael, and David and by his sisters Margaret "Peggy" (Shanks) and Mary (Nevrekar).



Stephen lived his life in service of others and measured his accomplishments by the people he helped. An unsung hero, because of his life, untold thousands received health care, affordable housing and a job with a living wage.



From truly humble beginnings, his Jewish brothers and sisters at Brandeis University discovered Stephen as a dishwasher in the campus cafeteria and gave him the gift of a world class education. Forever indebted to their generosity, Stephen's great honor was securing the land for the New England Holocaust Memorial by Boston's City Hall.



From Brandeis, Stephen went on to be elected Waltham's youngest ever City Councillor in a position he held from 1970 to 1977 while a student at the John F. Kennedy School of Public Policy at Harvard University. He simultaneous served as the Director of the Dedham and Waltham Housing Authorities. In 1977, he was summoned to Washington, DC, where he served in the Administration of President Jimmy Carter, first as Deputy Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and then as Executive Assistant to his deeply admired mentor, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Patricia Roberts Harris. During his time with HHS and later HUD, he worked to further the vision of President Carter and Secretary Harris in revitalizing cities across the country and bringing affordable health care to the Native American Tribes of the American Southwest.



With the arrival of President Reagan in Washington, DC, Stephen and his beautiful bride Maria headed west with Lisa and Will in tow and lived out some of the happiest days of their lives in Palo Alto in their Shangri La on Ruthelma Ave., surrounded by bougainvillea and bonsai, while Stephen was a student at Stanford Law. Never one to be idle, Stephen worked full-time through most of his time at Stanford for legendary architect John "Jack" Carl Warnecke as the CEO of Warnecke & Associates, where he learned the aesthetics of design and urban planning while establishing groundbreaking development projects across the globe.



Following his time in California, Stephen was called home to Boston, where he served as the director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority under Mayor Raymond Flynn from 1984 to 1992. Among his many contributions to the City of Boston, Stephen was instrumental in the revitalization of the Charlestown Navy Yard and helped to establish the Harbor Walk, in addition to approving over 150 other significant projects. Stephen also empowered Boston's African American community through a revolutionary program in the 1980s which required developers to hire minority partners at all levels and project phases.



Perhaps his greatest professional accomplishments came through his more than 25 years of service as the CEO of the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT). In his time with the HIT, HIT invested $8.5 billion in 421 projects nation-wide (without a single default), creating more than 141,000 jobs including nearly 66,000 on-site union construction jobs, and generating $4.4 billion of net earnings for its investors. These investments produced 94,000 housing units, of which about 70% were affordable to low income units for working families. The total economic impact of these projects is estimated at over $22 billion. As a leader, Stephen was also dedicated to advancing DEI long before it was widely adopted. At the time of his retirement, HIT and its leadership team were comprised of over 40% people of color and nearly 60% women.



From the mid-1980s onward, mostly unbeknownst to his family, Stephen worked to help bring peace to his ancestral homeland, Northern Ireland. Enlisted by the late John Hume, Stephen helped to develop a statement project â€" the Foyleside Shopping Center in Derry â€" which created opportunity for the community and, in Hume's words, convinced the paramilitaries to trade guns for jobs.



Among his many awards, Stephen was recognized with the National Alliance to End Homelessness Lifetime Achievement Award, the United Clergy Task Force Angel's Award, the Flax Trust Award, the Brandies University Alumni Achievement Award, the Boston Planning & Development Cushing Gavin Award, the Boston Preservation Alliance Codman Award for Lifetime Achievement and an Honorary Doctors of Laws from the University of Ulster.



Beyond his professional achievements, Stephen will be remembered as a brilliant storyteller, a masterful gardener, an affectionate caregiver to his beautiful Koi and his rambunctious "roggie dogs" (Lady, Julie and Jake) and as a diehard Red Sox, Celtics and Pats fan â€" though his greatest joy by far was his grandchildren. He was also a mentor and friend to so many, and the family welcomes you to share your memories of Stephen with them at StephenCoyle.estate@gmail.com.



A viewing and celebration of life will be held at Money and King Funeral Home in Vienna, Virginia on December 23, 2023 from 4 to 7 p.m. (service at 6). A viewing will also be held at Brasco's Funeral Home in Waltham, Massachusetts on December 27, 2023 from 4 to 7 p.m., followed by a Catholic Funeral Mass at St. Mary's in Waltham on December 28, 2023 at 10 a.m.