Stephen Cornelius O'Connell (January 22, 1916 – April 13, 2001) was an American attorney, appellate judge and university president. O'Connell was a native of Florida, and earned bachelor's and law degrees before becoming a practicing attorney. He later was chosen to be a justice of the Florida Supreme Court from 1955 to 1967, and served as the sixth president of the University of Florida from 1967 to 1973. Early life and education Stephen O'Connell was born in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1916, and he attended public schools in West Palm Beach and Titusville, Florida. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Florida from 1934 to 1940, where he was a member, and later president, of Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity (Alpha Omega chapter). While he was an undergraduate student, he was elected president of the sophomore class, the student body and Florida Blue Key leadership society. He was also a star athlete and the captain of the Florida Gators varsity boxing team, set the university record for fastest knock-out—twelve seconds including the count—won the Southeastern Conference (SEC) middleweight boxing championship, and was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Distinguished Letter Winner." O'Connell completed both his bachelor of science degree from the College of Business Administration and his bachelor of laws degree from the College of Law in 1940. War, law and politics After briefly practicing law in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, O'Connell accepted an appointment as the civilian director of physical training for the U.S. Third Air Force in Tampa, Florida, and thereafter entered active duty service with U.S. Army Air Corps when the United States entered World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. During the war, he served with the U.S. Fifth Air Force in Brisbane, Australia and as executive officer of the 312th Bombardment Group in the western Pacific, and completed his war-time service as a major. O'Connell married Rita McTigue after he returned from the war, and restarted his Fort Lauderdale law practice in 1946. He also became an active member of the Broward County Democratic Party, and participated in the gubernatorial and senatorial campaign organizations of Dan McCarty, George Smathers and LeRoy Collins. In appreciation of his loyal work on behalf of the Democratic Party, Florida Governor LeRoy Collins appointed O'Connell as a justice the Florida Supreme Court in 1955. His time on the