Steve Chapman

By Alianor Chapman

A funeral service for Steve will be held Friday, June 6, 2025 from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM at Lake Grove Presbyterian, 4040 Sunset Drive, Lake Oswego, OR 97035. The Livestream for this event will be https://vimeo.com/event/5164724/b1f477ebd2.

Charles Stephen Chapman, a devoted husband and father, relentless organizer, and man whose career defied conventional description, died on May 22, 2025, after a final bike ride near his home in Lake Oswego, Oregon. He was 75.

Known to friends and family as Steve, he was, by his own design, hard to categorize. His daughter once summarized his career with a shrug and a smile: “No idea what he does, but he talks on the phone a lot." That hardly captured the scope of a decades-long career that spanned private equity, small business investing, political strategy, and mentorship.

In his early career, Mr. Chapman invested in and led a range of businesses in Atlanta and Detroit. He was also a lifelong angel investor, sharing not just capital but energy, guidance, and curiosity with people and ideas he believed in.

But it was his political work later in life that brought him a renewed sense of mission. An early internship in Washington, D.C., taught him he didn’t want to be a politician—he wanted to help elect good ones. As soon as he had the means, he began donating to Democratic candidates. But within a year, he saw a problem: money given blindly was often spent without strategy or accountability. So, he built a solution.

In true entrepreneurial form, Mr. Chapman founded the Democratic Capitalism Initiative (DCI), aimed at providing strategic research and rapid-response support to underfunded campaigns. What began as a vehicle for opposition research quickly evolved into a broader effort to bring high-quality tools to down-ballot Democrats who couldn’t otherwise afford them.

By 2024, that vision had outgrown DCI. He launched the Get Out the Vote PAC (GOTV) as a long-term vessel for his values—an organization powered by volunteers, data, and determination. He built GOTV to be durable, independent, and future-facing. His colleagues describe him not just as a founder but as a tireless force, strategist, and friend.

Mr. Chapman believed deeply in economic dignity. Even after moving to Oregon, he remained a devoted Michigander at heart—advocating for policies he believed would help working families. His views were shaped not just by business or ideology, but by lived experience. When his son Max, who had special needs, found meaningful employment at a car rental company, Mr.

Chapman saw firsthand the value of a living wage—not just for Max, but for his coworkers, many of whom were young and precariously employed. That clarity fueled his advocacy for wage fairness, not as theory, but as a moral imperative grounded in human stories.

Born April 30, 1950, in Detroit, Michigan, Mr. Chapman grew up in Grand Blanc, where his love of games, competition, and community was clear from an early age. He spent his senior year of high school in Frankfurt, Germany—an experience that sparked a lifelong interest in global affairs and cultural exchange.

He earned honors degrees in history and economics from the University of Michigan—unable, as he liked to say, to choose between his two great academic loves—and later received an M.B.A. specializing in International Finance from New York University.

At Michigan, he discovered a sport that would define his athletic life: rugby. Over the years, he played for clubs across the country, led teams as a captain and strategist, and even represented the Eastern Rugby Union on a tour of apartheid South Africa in 1976. In one Big Ten tournament, he famously played for—and scored most of the points for—two different teams on the same day.

His athleticism extended far beyond the pitch. A competitive triathlete and duathlete, Mr. Chapman was nationally ranked and competed in world championships. After a major stroke in 2019, doctors credited his survival and recovery to his exceptional physical conditioning, forged over decades of training. Within months, he was back on his bike.

He brought that same energy to everything he did, including his leadership as Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 432 in Lake Oswego, where he applied his signature mix of discipline, humor, and high expectations. He was never happier than when outdoors with kids, friends, or fellow adventurers—hiking, paddling, biking, or simply moving forward.

Mr. Chapman never met a stranger. He was known for his booming voice, contagious smile, and unshakable belief that effort—not ease—was the point of life. He gave generously: of his time, knowledge, attention, and resources. He delighted in other people’s ideas. His friendships spanned generations and geographies—many formed decades ago on rugby fields, business calls, or front porches, and kept alive through regular phone calls and gatherings.

He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Christine; his daughters, Alianor and Leah; and three grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his beloved son, Max.

His family remembers him not just as a visionary, but as a man of deep character—a listener, a question-asker, a doer, and a believer in democracy, relationships, and persistence.

A celebration of life will be held at Lake Grove Presbyterian Church in Lake Oswego. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to GOTV PAC, the organization he founded to carry forward his belief in collective action and civic engagement.