Before he bought it, kept it working, and navigated the waves of development crashing across Capitol Hill to keep it afloat and bring it back to its Harvard at Pine home, Don Stevens was a customer at Bill’s off Broadway.

Stevens died Monday, according to a message on the much-loved bar and pizza joint’s Facebook page:

It is with great sadness we note the passing of Don Stevens, co-owner of Bill’s off Broadway. Don passed away quietly in his sleep Monday morning. His passing leaves an immeasurable hole in our hearts. He was loved for his generosity and humor. He touched countless lives, and changed many for the better.
His wife Colleen would like to thank all of you for your kindness and support; Bill’s is a special family.

Arrangements for a PARTY in Don’s honor is forthcoming- because that’s what he wanted.

In the meantime, keep Don in your heart -and maybe have Jack Daniels an Amstel Light in his honor!

— Bill

Stevens would have turned 64 in October. Bill’s remains open and people have been gathering there to share memories, CHS is told.

The Facebook message from Bill’s was posted along with a picture we took of Stevens in 2012 as we spoke with the longtime owner about the impending development of the corner Bill’s had called home since 1980. The plan back then was to find a temporary location for Bill’s while its 30-year Capitol Hill home was torn apart and built back up as part of a preservation incentive-boosted, mixed-use development.

By 2013, Stevens and his wife and co-owner Colleen Stevens had found a new location in Greenwood for a mixed expansion/move to make way for the construction. But, to be fully honest, we expected to eventually report that Bill’s was never coming back to Capitol Hill. Stevens had faith in the developers. “They’re more concerned about the future,” Stevens said of developer Denny Onslow’s investment team at the time. “They have a really refreshing attitude. They would like people to think of it as the Bill’s building.”

After a two year construction hiatus, the Stevenses reopened Bill’s off Broadway in August 2015 — just in time for the football season. Earlier this year, Stevens told CHS he had reached an agreement to sell the Bill’s he opened in Greenwood so that Bleachers Pub, a neighborhood institution of its own up north, could move. Meanwhile The Cue Apartments building — the developers didn’t go with the whole Bill’s building thing — was sold for $39.6M this summer.

Stevens told CHS he acquired the original Bill’s around 1995 after working in sales nearby at Phil Smart Mercedes and as the general sales manager at the E Pike BMW showroom before that. “I was a customer,” Stevens said about Bill’s. “And I got to know the guy who owned it. And one thing lead to another.”

Here’s how we described Bill’s when we visited prior to the redevelopment:

There are TVs every which way you turn. The pool tables stay busy and draw hustlers of all types. A night at the bar guarantees a conversation with people across the area’s status-phere. Stevens said the philosophy continues to be about keeping Bill’s a comfortable, open place for everybody. “Everybody was welcome here,” Stevens said. “And that has definitely continued. The core value of Bill’s is that it has incredibly diverse clientele.”

Not a lot changed with the “new” Bill’s beyond an expanded food menu, a beer list kicked up to 18 taps, as well as a couple dozen more chairs, and a bigger kitchen. Stevens said much of the wood paneling and fixtures from the original restaurant were saved to preserve the old Bill’s charm.

“Anybody that has a history with Bill’s off Broadway is going to walk in there and know they’re in Bill’s off Broadway,” Stevens said.