Stephen F. Davitt, videographer
Stephen F. Davitt, a videographer, producer and scriptwriter whose work took him all over the world, was stricken April 6 with an apparent heart attack while walking his dog and was pronounced dead at Union Memorial Hospital. The Guilford resident was 62.
Stephen Francis Davitt was the son of Francis Xavier Davitt, a maintenance engineer for the New York City School Board, and his former wife, Carol Schlamp Davitt Fitzgerald, a human resources assistant. He was also the stepson of Frank Fitzgerald, an administrator for New York Shipping.
Mr. Davitt was born in the Bronx, New York, and raised in East Meadow, NewYork, and was a graduate of East Meadow High School, where he was an award-winning jazz trumpeter.
He entered Towson University in 1975, studying music and mass communications. After leaving college, he worked as a cameraman for Maryland Public Television and during the mid-1980s was employed by WJZ-TV in a similar capacity.
Mr. Davitt was the founder of Stony Run Productions, and his career as a videographer, producer and screenwriter led him to assignments in Saudi Arabia, where he spent a year helping to film instructional videos for the military during the Iraq War. More recently, he traveled to Israel, Ireland and Jordan to film language videos published by Yale University Press.
In addition to being an accomplished musician, he was a talented writer, and his novel, “Tell Me What I Want to Hear,” will be published posthumously, said his wife of 19 years, the former Alison “Ali” Wainwright, a professional fundraiser.
The couple lived in Towson and later Dickeyville, where he was an active member of the community. He participated in the annual July Fourth parade and regularly filmed community events and milestones.
He volunteered his time to produce a documentary on the history of Dickeyville, the preserved 19th-century village that was once a flourishing mill town.
Mr. Davitt volunteered at St. Mark School in Catonsville, where his daughters were students. He assisted with playground duty, school fundraisers, theatrical productions and construction of the school’s July Fourth float in the Catonsville parade.
He also enjoyed sailing on the Chesapeake Bay.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, plans for a memorial Mass at St. Mark Roman Catholic Church in Catonsville in the late summer or early fall are incomplete.
In addition to his wife, of Blacksburg, Virginia, and mother, he is survived by two daughters, Lillian Davitt and Emilie Davitt of Blacksburg; two sisters, Christine Davitt McGloughlin of Greenlawn, New York, and Laura Davitt Savini of Holly Springs, North Carolina; three stepbrothers, Martin Fitzgerald of Toms River, New Jersey, Richard Fitzgerald of Hicksville, New York, and John Fitzgerald of the U.S. Virgin Islands; several nieces and nephews; and his companion of two years, Clarinda Harriss of Guilford.