STEPHEN M. RIVERS
2/17/55 – 6/8/10
              
Stephen Rivers, a prominent Los Angeles-based communications and public affairs strategy consultant, died early Tuesday morning from metastatic prostate cancer. He was 55 years old.

Rivers worked with entertainment industry and corporate clients as well as on political, non-profit and international projects. His clients included Academy Award-winning director/producer and actor Kevin Costner, Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss, acclaimed actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone, Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute and Sundance Group, The Coca-Cola Company, and the University of Southern California Annenberg School For Communication. “Stephen brought me into a world he loved so much. The world of politics.
I don't know anyone who loved it more. I am forever grateful to him for that,” commented Costner.

His work included marketing and publicity campaigns for films, corporate positioning and transactions, image building and crisis management. He has also organized events for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver, President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, South African President Nelson Mandela, King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the late Pope John Paul II.  From Governor Schwarzenegger and First Lady Shriver, “Stephen was a great human being - one of the best. What made him so special was his total grasp of his craft, whether it was the entertainment world, the political arena, non-profits or the private sector. He was the only one who could bring it all together for the benefit of whatever cause he supported. Stephen’s talent had no boundaries, and he will be missed.”

Rivers also worked on special projects and helped to organize events for the Middle East peace organization Seeds of Peace, Vanity Fair magazine, the Hollywood Women’s Political Committee, the Magic Johnson Foundation, and the music industry’s Rock the Vote organization. In addition, he worked with such directors as Michael Moore, Barry Levinson, John Hughes and the late Herbert Ross on their film projects.

In 2006, Rivers worked on the U.S. media launch of PRODUCT (RED), the brand created by Bono and Bobby Shriver to generate profits for the Global Fund's AIDS prevention and treatment programs in Africa.

Rivers traveled to Cuba more than two dozen times in the past ten years, working on cultural exchange projects and other initiatives to improve U.S.-Cuba relations.  He brought U.S. filmmakers, including Steven Spielberg, Kevin Costner, and Steven Soderbergh, to Cuba to present their films to audiences there, and also participated in several congressional delegations and trade trips to Havana.  In December 2008, he organized the visit of Benicio Del Toro to the Havana Film Festival for the premiere of “Che.”

In 2009, Rivers helped Columbian singer/songwriter/humanitarian activist Juanes organize his Paz Sin Fronteras concert in Havana, which was attended by more than 1 million people.  He worked with the U.S. and Cuban governments to secure the necessary permissions, and advised Juanes on media relations issues related to the controversial concert.

Before launching his own firm in 1994, Rivers worked for four years at Creative Artists Agency, where he served as the company’s first communications and public affairs executive. He worked with a wide range of the agency’s talent and corporate clients, including Oliver Stone, Kevin Costner, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, David Letterman and The Coca-Cola Company.  In 1990, he managed media relations for the $7 billion purchase of MCA, Inc. by the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.

At CAA, Rivers also oversaw the agency’s governmental affairs and political and charitable activities.  In December 1993, he organized the major Democratic Party fundraiser held at CAA with President Clinton.

             Before joining CAA, Rivers worked for many years with Jane Fonda, serving as her press spokesman and working with her on a number of entertainment, business, political and charitable projects.  He organized all of Fonda’s public activities, from film and video promotion to political events, including Fonda’s 1984 visit to the Soviet Union to campaign for the release of Jewish refusenik Ida Nudel, and her 1987 trip to Poland to meet with Lech Walesa and lend support to the then-outlawed Solidarity movement.  Fonda noted that “Stephen was an important person in my life on a personal as well as on a PR level. We went through a lot together and I will miss him very much.”

Before working with Fonda, he worked for her then-husband, Tom Hayden, serving as his press secretary and later as his chief aide in Sacramento when he was elected to the California Legislature.  While working for Fonda and Hayden, Rivers was active in a number of political and charitable efforts.  He was involved in the campaigns of California Governor Jerry Brown, and in the presidential campaigns of Senator Gary Hart, Senator Bob Kerrey and Governor Michael Dukakis.  In 1982, Rivers was the campaign manager for former California Governor Gray Davis’ first campaign for the state legislature.
Rivers began his career working for the United Farm Workers union, serving as an organizer of the grape boycott in New England before coming to California to serve as an assistant to the late UFW president Cesar Chavez.  Before joining the UFW, he studied philosophy and theology at Fairfield University in Connecticut.

He is survived by his mother, Ellen Rivers; three sisters, Christina Rivers, Patricia Rivers-Sergienko; several nieces and nephews, including Ricci Sergienko, who did so much to take care of him in the last year; his godson, Justin Booth; and many close friends who loved him very much.

Funeral services will be held at Mt. Carmel in his hometown of Springfield, Mass. Arrangements are pending.  A Los Angeles memorial service will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the UFW Foundation or the Sisters of Saint Joseph Federation.