Stephen Simone

Stephen Simone of Saint Petersburg Florida completed his 76 year journey through life early on the morning of July 12, 2024. Stephen left us peacefully with his favorite songs being played and his wife of 46 years comforting him by his bedside. 

Stephen was born on June 12, 1948 in Jacksonville, Florida to Joseph, a WW II Navy Veteran and Shirley Simone. Shortly thereafter the family packed up and moved west to Tallahassee where the young family put down permanent roots. While growing up in Tallahassee Stephen attended Leon High School and later earned degrees in Social Work and Accounting from Florida State University. 

Shortly after graduating with the class of 82’ Stephen passed the Certified Public Accountant exam and was recruited to work in Saint Petersburg for one of the prestigious ‘Big 8’, at that time, public accounting firms. After cutting his teeth working in the Big 8 he soon found himself being poached for his talent by a recently founded mid-size CPA firm and not long after being made a principle partner for his hard work. 

Stephen’s most significant professional accomplishment, and the one he was the most proud of, was when he gambled everything by betting on himself and, with the help and support of his wife, opened his own firm in 1996. His genuine care for his clients and his kind and affable nature led many of his clients to think of him as a close and trusted friend first and taxation and accounting advisor second. He continued to work full time and serve his loyal clients, some of whom were the third generation of their family to seek Stephen’s guidance, until just weeks before his passing. Stephen Simone, P.A. continues to serve its clients now and into the future being managed by one of his sons that followed in his professional path. 

As much as Stephen enjoyed his work (and fervently rooting for FSU, his Alma mater’s football team on Saturdays during the college football season), he relished visiting Antique Shops and Art Galleries and local Art Shows in pursuit of collecting anything that caught his fancy.

Stephen is survived by his wife Joan; his children Beth, Tallahassee, Daniel, Tallahassee, Michael, St Petersburg and his daughter-in-law Carrie, with whom she and Daniel are parents to his two adored granddaughters, Amelia and Charlotte. 

Donations in Stephen's honor can be made to St. Jude's Children's Hospital, The Wounded Warrior Project, or a charity of your choice.

“Say not in grief “he is no more” but in thankfulness that he was”- Hebrew Proverb