May 19, 1961 – September 14, 2023
Christopher “Stephen” Cord Jr. was born in Los Angeles on May 19, 1961, to loving parents, Chris and Katrina Cord. The eldest of four children, Stephen, brothers Billy and Michael, and sister CeCe, remained close and active in each other’s lives, raising their children together, sharing holidays, enjoying the great outdoors, racetracks, and road trips.
Stephen thrived as a youngster at the John Thomas Dye school in Bel Air where he received the JTD award. He attended the Brentwood (high) School and spent a Semester at Sea traveling parts of Africa, Asia and beyond. After graduating in 1985 from USC with a BA in social sciences/communication, he explored a career in advertising before finding his path in financial assets and capital management.
In 1990, Stephen married his beloved Georgia Contompasis, a promising designer from Schenectady, New York. They settled in Pacific Palisades and welcomed their first daughter KC in 1992, followed by Lexi in 1995. Tragically, Georgia died in January of 2013 after a heroic battle with breast cancer.
Stephen returned to higher education in 2001 and received an MBA from Pepperdine University. For over 25 years, Stephen managed multi-million-dollar investments for a devoted clientele at Doheny Asset Management. In 2021, Stephen co-founded Cordhaven Capital Management.
Good at every sport he tried, Stephen made his mark as a world-class Hapkido martial artist studying under Master Bong Soo Han. Referred to as the “Fred Astaire of free fighting” Stephen achieved a 5th degree black belt and was one of the very few individuals to teach outside of Korea.
Mid 2014, Stephen was set up on a blind date with Tui Shaub, newly arrived from London. The two quickly fell in love. They ebbed in and out of each other’s lives but pledged it all and married in 2023. The Cords are members of the Beach Club where Stephen was frequently found “pushing weight around” in the gym.
Stephen Cord had a wonder and zest for life that could not be tamed. He loved family, friends, flying Cessnas, racing Sonoma or the corkscrew at Laguna Seca, Ducati’s and dirt bikes, golden retrievers, flowers and French toast, reading historical and spiritual texts, and guitar solos. He built fences, climbed hillsides, jumped off high rocks in Costa Rica and the top of docks in Lake Arrowhead. For all this physical confidence, Stephen was also an elegant orator and a boisterous storyteller who made even the most mundane stories entertaining and lively.
Afflicted with a rare biliary disease in his 20s and diagnosed with gallbladder cancer in 2020, Stephen lived well beyond all predictions both in length and vigor. Sadly, Stephen passed away on Thursday, September 14, at home surrounded by his nearest and dearest family and friends.
Unique, kind, mischievous, devoted, athletic, philosophical, emotional, complex, and brave…they don’t make ‘em like Stephen Cord anymore. The Cord Family and friends will draw inspiration from the way he lived and loved life; and will love and miss him always.
Stephen is survived by wife, Tui Cord; daughter Katrina “KC” Cord; daughter, Alexandra “Lexi” Cord; mother Katrina Cord; son-in-law Jake Ryan; brother Billy Cord and wife Angela; brother Michael and wife Julie; sister Cece and husband Will (Jackson); nieces and nephews Nick, Will, Gardner, Lauren, Jamie, and Caitlyn and many other loving relatives and friends.
He is predeceased by wife, Georgia Cord; father Chris Cord; brother-in-law Hughes Morton, and grandparents, Onnalee and William Doheny.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday, October 16, at the Beach Club, 201 Palisades Beach Road, in Santa Monica.
In lieu of flowers, the Cord family asks that you please consider donating to cholangiocarcinoma.org or donating blood and save a life like Stephen’s redcrossblood.org
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