Mr. Frank Nicholas Stepovich

Frank Nicholas Stepovich was born in Fresno, CA, on July, 14, 1929, and passed away on Sunday, March 1, 2015. He is remembered as a loving father and grandfather, a devoted husband, and a great friend.

He was an institution in San Joaquin Valley Ag Real Estate. Frank started working for Pearson Realty in 1960, while he was still farming table grapes and vegetables in the Fresno area. Eventually, he became a partner at Pearson. He served as President of Pearson in 1983. He was still working for Pearson Realty as Senior Vice President in the Farm Land Department when he passed away.

Frank loved selling ranches, which was evident in the many awards he received over his 55 year tenure at Pearson Realty. He was extremely active in the Realtors Land Institute where he was an accredited member since 1974; past President, California Chapter in 1979; past Vice President, Regional in 1980; Chairman of the Agricultural Committee in 1979; and Farm Broker of the Year, California Chapter in 1984.

He was an active member of the Fresno Association of Realtors since 1960. He served as President in 1983, and won Realtor of the Year in 1984.

Frank was a California State University, Fresno Guest Lecturer, in addition to teaching numerous real estate courses in the 1970's and 1980's, across the country for the Realtors Land Institute.

He received his Associates of Science degree from Fresno City College in 1975.

Frank enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1952, and served as a Corporal in the Military Police where he was stationed in Japan during the Korean Conflict and honorably discharged in 1955. Some of his favorite stories came from his time in the Marines that included discovering a General who headed a smuggling ring. He was a member of the VFW and the American Legion.

Frank was proud of his Croatian heritage, and was a member of the Croatian Fraternal Union and the All Slavonic American Association. He loved speaking Croatian, cooking Croatian food, and attending as many Slav get togethers as humanly possible.

He was an avid student of foreign languages. He was constantly working on refining his Croatian, Spanish, and Italian.

In addition to his love of languages, Frank was a fly fisherman, traveler and reader. He enjoyed car racing and has many photo albums of his exploits as a race car driver. He was politically conservative and supported the Republican Party.

Frank was preceded in death by his parents, Olga Antisdale Lamb, and Frank Joseph Stjepovich; his baby sister, Jela Stjepovich; his oldest sister, Marie Willis; and his wife, Nina Stepovich.

Frank is survived by his daughter, Romi L. Stepovich, of Los Angeles, CA; his step-son, Ron Loyles; his step-daughter, Rena Canipe; his sisters, Alice McFarland of Walnut Creek, CA, and Marti Kleim of Fresno, CA; as well as many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be held at Whitehurst, Sullivan, Burns & Blair Funeral Home on Monday, March 9, 2015, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. followed by a Recitation of the Holy Rosary at 7:00 p.m.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, on Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at 10:00 a.m.