Paul Arthur Stein of New Canaan, CT, died peacefully in his sleep at The Greens in Wilton, CT, on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. He was 87 years old.
Paul Arthur Stein. https://hoytfuneralhome.com/tribute/details/2010/Paul-Stein/obituary.html#tribute-start
Born on August 20, 1937, in St. Louis, MO, Paul was the son of Harry Arthur Stein and Julia Sanford Vandivort.
He attended public schools in Webster Groves, MO, and cherished visits to his grandfather’s farms in southeast Missouri, where he developed a lifelong love of farming. As a boy, he earned spending money by raising chickens for meat and eggs and breeding homing pigeons, which were used by the military during World War II.
Paul graduated from Dartmouth College with the Class of 1959 and began his career in the New York office of Merrill Lynch.
He also served as an Airman in the Missouri Air National Guard from 1955 to 1963. During the Berlin Crisis he was deployed to Alsace, France. Following his military service, he returned to St. Louis in 1961 and rejoined Merrill Lynch.
Over the course of a distinguished 41-year career with Merrill Lynch, Paul held a number of management positions. He is perhaps best remembered for playing a leading role in the development and marketing of Merrill Lynch’s pioneering Cash Management Account (CMA) in the late 1970s, a product that transformed the financial services industry. In the 1980s, he also headed the team responsible for the construction and fit-out of two of the four towers in New York City’s World Financial Center. He retired in 2000 as Vice President and Director of Special Market Offices.
Following his retirement, Paul and his wife, Marjorie Orr Stein, moved to New Canaan, where he quickly became an active member of the community. He served on the Board of The GetAbout, was President of the Senior Men’s Club, and was a devoted lay reader at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.
Paul pursued many interests throughout his life. He enjoyed travel, photography, duck hunting, skeet shooting, wine collecting, and genealogy, but above all he treasured time with his family. One of his greatest pleasures was returning each summer to Cape Girardeau, MO, for the annual Vandivort family reunion, which regularly brought together more than 100 relatives.
Paul is survived by his wife of 31 years, Marjorie; his stepdaughters, Carolyn MacIver Millstein (Jim) and Elizabeth MacIver Neiva (John); and his granddaughters Joanna and Natalie Millstein and Isabel and Christina Neiva. He was predeceased by his first wife, Ann Garwood Stein, in 1993; his daughter, Valerie Stein Mendizabal, in 2018; and his son, Paul Garwood Stein, in 2025.
A service celebrating Paul’s life will be held at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on 8/6/2026 at 11am
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The GetAbout of New Canaan or to the Dartmouth College Fund earmarked for undergraduate financial aid.
The Family is being compassionately cared for by the staff at Hoyt Funeral Home, 199 Main Street, New Canaan CT 06840. For online condolences please visit www.hoytfuneralhome.com.
[This obituary appeared on the Hoyt Funeral Home website.]