Edgar "Steven" Ezell

Handsome, charming, and a quick, wry sense of humor are some of the ways Steven Ezell could be described on first impression. But with greater familiarity, one would also discover a deeply earnest and impeccably moral individual who was profoundly committed to his family, his friends, his profession, and to his innermost beliefs.

E. Steven Ezell left this world on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. The world lost a remarkable man that day. A generous and honest man whose life and actions reflected a commitment to serving others and a striving to make society more just and humane.

Steven was born in Galveston, Texas, in 1947 to parents Edgar and Waneta, a doctor and a nurse. Steven was blessed with many natural gifts: aptitudes for not only academics, but also for music and art.

Steve earned his BA from the University of Texas, Austin and was a lifelong fan of the Longhorns. He received his juris doctor at St. Mary’s University Law School in San Antonio, and was admitted to the Colorado bar in 1974. Shortly thereafter he moved to Colorado Springs. Steve’s legal profession began in the Colorado Springs District Attorney’s Office where he served for seven years, his last three years as Chief Deputy. The following 17 years he teamed with the law firm of Melat, Pressman, Ezell & Higbie. In 2001 Steve joined his mentor and close friend, Bruce T. Buell, to form Buell & Ezell, an Estate Planning Firm.

Buell & Ezell was not just any law firm. It was an expression of the commitment of the partners to the ethos of leadership through service. And thus Steve was President of the El Paso County Bar Association, on its Board of Trustees, Treasurer, Membership Chair, Probate Section Chair, and Representative to the Colorado Bar Association. Within the CBA he was Vice President, on the Board of Governors, the Professionalism Committee Chair, Budget Committee, Amicus Brief Committee, and the Professional Reform Task Force. He served on the Colorado Supreme Court Disciplinary Panel from 1997-2021, was president of the Ben S. Wendelken Inn of Court, and served on the Governor’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Council.

In all his roles, Steven brought unflinching professionalism touched with quiet dignity to his practice.

It’s impossible to really know Steve, though, without knowing of his powerful Christian faith and its role in directing his life. So it was that Steven was a member of the Board of Directors for Hope and Home, Inc, a Christian foster care agency founded by his Pathfinders group of First Presbyterian Church and which he chaired for three years. Hope and Home has emerged as the largest non-profit foster-care agency in the State of Colorado, having placed over 2,700 kids, many of them from troubled backgrounds, and certified 699 families to provide foster care. Hundreds of lives have been changed for the better. Steve’s contributions were instrumental in creating those opportunities.

Steven also helped Bruce to found Ecumenical Christian Legal Services, serving as Co-Director with Bruce from 2001-2020. Steve would take calls at all hours from and for indigent people needing legal assistance, and team them up with a volunteer pro bono attorney.

These things, Steve would tell you, were not his to boast, but were incidents of his Christian faith. To borrow from Steven’s final tribute to Bruce, the goal “was always to determine, ‘What would Jesus do?’ And then do it.” He carried out his duties simply because he believed them to be the right thing to do.

Steve had the same unreserved passion running deeply within him for his family, loving without reservation his wife Mary, son Scott, daughter Shannon Gramata and her husband Jason, and three lively grandchildren, Steven, Jaxon, and Amelia. He leaves behind his loving siblings Martha Ezell, John Ezell, Virginia Arpita Ezell and their supportive partners Daune Greene and Ron Rajendra Bingham. He fought his death sentence with every ounce of his being to delay leaving them. And he prayed for God’s comfort and protection for all who loved him, even as he struggled against an unremitting cancer.

Steven’s absence leaves a hole that will never be filled.

It seems apt in Steve’s case to conclude Longfellow’s ode:

So when a great man dies,

For years beyond our ken,

the light he leaves behind him

Lies upon the paths of men.

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Steven’s funeral service will be held on Saturday, July 30th at 11am at First Presbyterian Church, 219 East Bijou, Colorado Springs. All are welcome. In lieu of flowers, the family requests honoring Steven’s memory with a donation to CASA of the Pikes Peak Region through their website, www.casappr.org/donate-now/