Former newsman Bill Stevens dies at 82

Bill Stevens, a former newsman with The Associated Press and United Press International who once led the New York Legislative Correspondents Association, died Wednesday. He was 82.

He died of respiratory illness in Jacksonville, Fla., where he moved three years ago with his wife, Peg, said his son Rik Stevens, the AP's news editor in Albany.

Bill Stevens worked in Syracuse for The Post-Standard and The Herald Journal before joining the AP in 1962 in Albany. He later worked for UPI as Albany bureau manager. He spent many years covering the administration of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, as well as national stories such as the Northeast blackout of 1965 and the Attica prison uprising of 1971.

Stevens was later a press secretary and speech writer for the state Senate majority. He retired in 1995.

Stevens attended Syracuse University and served in the Air Force.

Survivors include his wife of 55 years and three children. A daughter died in 2010. Services will be private. -- AP