James "Steve" Stephen Dolman

Steve was the son of Marjorie B. Dolman and the late James B. Dolman of Ardmore, Oklahoma, and the father of Waverly and Hayden Dolman of Houston. He was born on the 12th of May 1963, Steve was a native of Ardmore, Oklahoma, where he graduated in 1981 from Ardmore High School. While living in Ardmore, he enjoyed tennis, choir and theater. He was endlessly talented and could be seen in many musical productions in Ardmore.

While in high school, Steve worked at Walt Disney World, first as a waiter then as Goofy, Br’er Bear, and Tigger where he performed daily at the Mickey Mouse Character parade as well as character meet and greets. Disney continued to be one of his favorite vacation spots, as he loved taking his twins and did multiple times with family, friends and caregivers.

Before leaving Ardmore and continuing his higher education, he explored the world of politics by working as a government intern for US Representative Wes Watkins, Washington, D.C. and a government intern for U.S Senator David L. Boren. One of his favorite projects was working as an Assistant Editor and Production Assistant of “Washington Watch”, a monthly cable television program featuring Sen. Boren.

Steve is one of four generations in his family to attend University of Oklahoma, where he received his BBA in Finance. While studying at OU, Steve was very active in the OU Sports Information office, working as a statistician for OU Football and Basketball. He also provided many television sports networks with statistics and historical data; wrote human-interest articles pertaining to all OU sports and personalities for AP and UPI nationwide news releases; and wrote feature articles for many athletic programs, including the 1985 and 1986 Orange Bowl programs.

He received the OU Regents Alumni Award and was most recently on the Advisory Board of OU’s College of International Studies, where he helped establish the Marjorie Buchner Dolman Courtyard at Hester Hall and the Steve Dolman Study Abroad Office in Adams Hall. Steve also created the Dolman Family Scholarship for Study Abroad program for the Price College students at OU. Studying abroad was a passion of his, as he developed his career and many friendships in other countries. Steve continued to stay in touch with the scholarship recipients as he hosted an annual scholarship celebration reception at his house in Norman. Steve had a true love of OU athletics and when he heard of the creation of the Barry Switzer Center, Steve immediately wanted to become involved and to sponsor the Championship Bowl Trophy wall. He served on the Advisory Board at OU’s Price College of Business where he has taught as a guest lecturer, gave the 2013 convocation address for Price Business School graduates and the 2016 convocation address for College of International Studies graduates. Steve holds a Master of Arts and MBA degrees from the University of Southern California, as well as a Masters of International Management degree from the American Graduate School of International Management’s Thunderbird Campus. In addition to OU, he was a regular guest lecturer at the Harvard Business School, the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and the Jones School of Business at Rice University. Steve also enjoyed living on the coasts while attending USC in Los Angeles, where he worked at Paramount Pictures preparing marketing research studies for TV programming and in New York City as a Sports Sales intern with NBC TV Network, developing sales and revenue planning.

Steve then settled in the Midwest and eventually retired as a Senior Managing Director at Hines, a privately owned real estate investment firm founded in Houston with a presence in 199 cities in 19 countries. Steve began his career developing Hines real estate projects in Chicago and Atlanta and then moved to South America development. He was responsible for helping set up Hines’ South America organization, based in Sao Paulo, where he lived for 10 years. Steve arrived in Brazil an Okie, and left a full-fledged Brazilian. Steve emerged himself in South American art and developed an extraordinary art collection from South American artists. He made it a priority to share his love of art and presented his collection at an exhibit at the Charles B Goddard Art Center in January 2021. He loved great food, wine and enjoyed fellowship with many Brazilian families. He participated in various outdoor sports, including a variety of cycling and running trips that took him all over the world. One of his favorite memories was dancing in Carnival with his brother, sister and brother-in-law. He loved showing off his Brazilian country and visiting many countryside friends’ vacation homes.

Steve eventually transitioned back to the US with Hines and was an extremely active Houston Community member, serving on the boards of Hermann Park Conservancy, Houston Symphony, MD Anderson Walk for Melanoma and Art League of Houston and OU Club of Houston. As an amazing event planner, Steve loved to entertain and invite new and old friends together for a cause.

In 2016, Steve was diagnosed with ALS and also received his most important job yet, father to twins, Hayden and Waverly Dolman. He fought ALS with a vengeance in order to watch his precious children grow up. He surpassed all medical expectations and kept fighting daily with his incredible caregivers and family by his side.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Monday, the 4th of March, in the library and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A memorial service is to be conducted at half past one o'clock in the afternoon on Tuesday the 5th of March 2024 at the First Presbyterian Church, 5300 Main Street in Houston, where Pastor Jon Crantz is to officiate.

In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial donations can be made in Steve’s memory to the Dolman Family Endowed Scholarship Fund at the University of Oklahoma Foundation, the “OU Foundation", noting the Dolman Family Scholarship in the memo section, and mail to: The University of Oklahoma Foundation P.O. Box 258856; the Team Gleason Foundation/ALS, P.O. Box 24493, New Orleans, LA 70184; or to the charity of one’s choice. Direct access to donation pages for each organization may be obtained by selecting their respective icons below.

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