Stephen T. Cropper

Stephen T. Cropper was a firefighter and fire apparatus mechanic who spent more than six decades serving the Town of Ocean City, Maryland, and its volunteer fire company. He died on October 25, 2026, at the age of 81, and his death was announced by the Ocean City Fire Department, which he had served for 37 and a half years as a career firefighter and mechanic.

Cropper was born on December 21, 1944, in Salisbury, Maryland, to Turner P. Cropper and Marion V. (Nichols) Cropper. He grew up in the Ocean City area and became connected to the town's volunteer fire service as a young man, a relationship that would last for 63 years. Over that long span he rose through the ranks of the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company, serving as Assistant Chief and as a member of its Board of Directors, and in 2006 he was recognized with a Maryland State Firefighters Association Hall of Fame award.

Beyond firefighting, Cropper built a career and a business around the mechanical side of emergency services. He owned and operated Stephen T. Cropper and Sons Fire Apparatus, a company devoted to maintaining and repairing fire trucks and related equipment, work that put his technical skills in service of the same community he responded to as a firefighter. Colleagues and officials in Ocean City described him as a steady, dedicated presence whose decades of work helped keep the town's fire department running, both on the apparatus floor and at the scene of emergencies.

Cropper's family said he was preceded in death by his wife, Janice L. Cropper, as well as by his parents. He is survived by his children, Teresa Cropper Beath and her husband John of Tyaskin, Christopher S. Cropper, and Phillip E. Cropper and his husband Keith, both of Berlin, along with his brother David N. Cropper and sister in law Patti, several grandchildren, and extended family.

News of Cropper's death prompted tributes from the Ocean City Fire Department and the volunteer fire company he had belonged to since his youth, which remembered him for his unwavering commitment and leadership over more than six decades of service. A memorial service is scheduled to be held at 2:00 pm on Sunday, November 8, 2026, at Ocean City Fire Company Station 5, with a visitation beforehand at the same location. The cause of his death has not been made public.