http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061226/NEWS99/61226027
Mega Millions winner dies at 43
By GINA DAMRON
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
December 26, 2006
Ralph Stebbins and his wife, Mary, had big plans for the $208-million Mega Millions lottery jackpot they won in April 2005.
Buy a farm. Buy a cow.
But after less than a year of incredible wealth -- taking home a $124.7-million lump-sum payment -- Ralph Stebbins has died at age 43.
Robert Kolt, a spokesman for the family, said Tuesday that Stebbins died Saturday of heart failure at his home -- the location of which he would not reveal to protect the family's privacy. Kolt said that, to his knowledge, Stebbins did not have a history of heart problems and hadn't been ill.
"He seemed healthy and he was a very active guy," Kolt said. "I think everybody was surprised."
Stebbins -- who before becoming a multimillionaire had worked for a well-digging company in the Port Huron area, -- found himself in legal trouble earlier this month when he was arrested after a confrontation with the boyfriend of his daughter Karin, Kolt said.
The charges are domestic, but the details are unclear.
"Ralph loved his kids," Kolt said. "He was a very protective father."
The Stebbinses were married 23 years. They have three children -- Candice, 22, Karin, 19, and Todd, 17.
Kolt said the Stebbinses used their fortune to help family members.
They also got the farm they had wanted.
But they never bought that cow.
Contact GINA DAMRON at 248-351-3293 or gdamron@freepress.com.
Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.
