He had many titles in his lifetime: Northampton Township trustee, Summit County commissioner and president of the Akron Regional Development Board.For Dawn Yanik, Don Stephens was simply “the best dad anyone could have.”“He taught me about life and truth and honesty,” Yanik said Tuesday, fighting tears. “He was all those things. He was a great person.”Mr. Stephens, 80, died Aug. 31 from complications from a heart attack.Many held fond memories of Mr. Stephens, who had a long career in both politics and business.For Summit County GOP Chairman Alex Arshinkoff, he was one of the men who helped him become chairman.Arshinkoff, the party’s vice chairman at the time, ran Mr. Stephens’ successful campaign for commissioner, a job he held from 1972 to 1978, serving during a rare period when Republicans enjoyed the majority among the commissioners.“Don Stephens played a big role for me,” said Arshinkoff, who has been chairman since 1978. “He gave me a lot of breaks. He was a great guy.”Arshinkoff credited Mr. Stephens with resurrecting the debate on Summit County adopting a charter form of government by pushing to get the issue back before voters in 1974. The county adopted a charter in 1979.“In a lot of ways, he doesn’t get any credit, but he laid the foundation for charter government after it had been soundly defeated,” Arshinkoff said.Arshinkoff said Mr. Stephens would polka with grandmothers at ethnic picnics and wasn’t afraid to campaign in enemy territory. He recalled once when they went to a Democratic event at the University of Akron’s Gardner Student Center. As Mr. Stephens worked the crowd, people remarked, “You’ll go anywhere.”“I miss him already,” Arshinkoff said.For Becky Guzy Woodford, senior vice president of the Greater Akron Chamber, Mr. Stephens was the man who gave her a job.As president of the Akron Regional Development Board (ARDB), the job he left his commissioner seat to take, he helped Woodford get her foot in the door. (The board was later renamed the Greater Akron Chamber.)Woodford said Mr. Stephens spearheaded Akron Plus, the chamber’s first ambitious marketing campaign for economic development. She said the five-year, $4.7 million effort, started in 1986, met its intended goals of creating and retaining thousands of jobs in the region.“That was the new thing back then,” she said. “Because of the economy, our leaders got together and decided they had to do something to keep Akron in the forefront.”Mr. Stephens headed ARDB until 1988, when he became director of marketing for Environmental Design Group, Inc., a Stow engineering and landscape architecture firm.Monday was a tough day for Yanik because she tried to spend every holiday with her father, who was living at St. Mary’s of the Woods in Avon. She was glad, though, that she got to see him before he passed.“At least I got to say goodbye,” she said. “He kissed me and said he loved me.”Mr. Stephens was preceded in death by Lucile, his wife of 52 years, and his son, David.Calling hours will be from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, followed by a memorial service at Billow Falls Chapel, 1907 23rd St. in Cuyahoga Falls.Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com.