Martin Stevens, 94, longtime professor of math at Drexel

Martin Stevens, 94, who taught mathematics from 1948 to 1992 in the Evening College of Drexel University, died of heart disease Monday, April 12, at the Quadrangle, the Haverford retirement community where he had lived for four years.

Diana Stevens, a daughter-in-law, said that in 1992 the Drexel Alumni Association presented Mr. Stevens with its Joseph S. Mozino Blue and Gold Award, given "to honor devoted service by members of Drexel's faculty and administration."

In 1975, she said, Mr. Stevens was inducted into the Cross Keys Fraternity at Drexel for his service to the Evening College students.

Born Martin Stepansky in Stavishche, near Kiev, he left Ukraine with his family in 1919, arrived in the States in 1923, earned a bachelor's degree in education at Temple University in 1937, and taught in the Philadelphia public school system.

During World War II, he was a civilian employee of the Navy at the Frankford Arsenal.

Besides his evening work at Drexel, from 1946 to 1986 Mr. Stevens worked at the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology near Media, as well as at such firms as Boeing Vertol, Burroughs Corp., and General Electric.

His daughter-in-law said he worked on aircraft design, missile reentry, and large-scale computer systems, among other projects.

Late in life, she said, he earned a professional engineering license.

In the 1960s, she said, he helped develop the control center of the North American Aerospace Defense Command at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado.

A longtime Havertown resident, Mr. Stevens was a Boy Scout district commissioner there from 1955 to 1960 and president of a summer lacrosse league there in 1960.

In 1999, the United Way honored him and his wife, Ruth, for volunteer work at the Franklin Institute and the Philadelphia Zoo.

In addition to his daughter-in-law, Mr. Stevens is survived by sons Paul and Lee; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. His wife died in 2009, and their son Roy died in 1987.

A celebration of life was scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, April 18, at the Quadrangle, 3300 Darby Rd., Haverford.