Thursday, May 7, 2015

Obituary For Roosevelt Island Resident H. Patrick Stewart - Memorial Service 2 PM Saturday May 16 At Good Shepherd Chapel

Below is Roosevelt Island resident Patrick Stewart's obituary.

Image Of Mr. Stewart From May 2003 Main Street WIRE
H. Patrick Stewart, III, 82, died of a heart attack April 28, 2015 at his home on Roosevelt Island, NYC.

Mr. Stewart was born in Grosse Pointe, MI on April 25, 1933 and grew up in Detroit and Kansas City, summering at Nahant, MA.

His maternal grandfather, Peter F. Minnock, headed General Motors for more than 20 years. His paternal grandfather, Henry P. Stewart, was Police Commissioner of Kansas City.

His father, H. Patrick Stewart, Jr., along with 20 of his classmates at Yale, left the US for England to fight in World War I before the US entered the war. He flew for the nascent RAF and went on to become the youngest member ever of the British Military to reach the rank of Major, a record only broken 25 years later during WWII by his son, and Patrick’s brother, Peter F. Minnock-Stewart, as a member of Military Intelligence in the British Indian Army in Burma.

Inspired by his dreams of military glory, Mr. Stewart prepared for a career as a professional soldier first at Rockhurst Preparatory School and Kemper Military School, then went on to Virginia Military Institute and Hampden Sydney College. He joined the US Army in 1955 as a 2nd Lieutenant and rose to the rank of Captain in Special Forces. He served in Lebanon and in Germany.

Disappointed with the peace time military, Mr. Stewart left the Army in 1960 and became an advertising executive first with Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborne and then with Young and Rubicam in New York and Los Angeles, then a senior marketing executive at Nabisco, Inc.

Mr. Stewart left marketing in 1978 to become a Limited Partner at Intellectics, SMB, the Management Consulting firm founded by his brother, Peter, serving clients as diverse as DuPont, General Electric, WJ Grace, United Airlines, AT&T and the US Department of the Interior.

Representing Intellectics, SMB he served on President Reagan’s Grace Commission Study of Cost Control in Federal Government.

Mr. Stewart was active for many years as an Arbitrator and Tribunal Member of the American Arbitration Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association, Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Mr. Stewart moved to Roosevelt Island in 1982 and by the 90’s had become an impassioned community activist. He was appointed to Community Board 8 by Ruth Messinger in 1995 and served until 2013. He was for many years the Chair of its Roosevelt Island Committee, and in 2006 became Co-Chair of the 2nd Avenue Subway Task Force.

Mr. Stewart served as President of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association from 1996 to 2000. He was appointed by Governor Pataki as a Director of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, which is responsible for the state-run community, from 1999 through 2009, serving as Chair for the Governance Oversight Committee.

Mr. Stewart said once in a CB8 Speaks television interview that… “Community organizing takes persistence and resolve. Movement is an emotional thing of marches and demonstrations, but organization is different; especially to aim for something bigger. Many movement people are not good organizers. It takes a special cold, rational type of anger.”

It also took patience and the help of his exquisite, old fashioned courtesy. Always a thoughtful listener, he was a dedicated champion of the residents of R.I. He will be sorely missed by the community he served.

Mr. Stewart is survived by his wife, the former Karen Jellison Sanford, by his daughter, Canby French Stewart of Phoenix AZ, his stepson, Adam Sanford of NYC, his niece, Brooke Stewart Disbrow and her husband Jack of Wilson CT, their daughter, Eirinn Stewart Disbrow of Los Angeles, CA, his nephew, Peter F. M. Stewart, Jr of Ridgefield, CT and by Mr. Stewart’s surrogate granddaughter, Zoe Schreiber of Cleveland, OH.

Mr Stewart's life will be celebrated at a Memorial Service on Saturday, May 16, at 2:00 PM at the Good Shepherd Chapel , Main Street, Roosevelt Island.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to Wounded Warrior, Inc.

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