John "Jack" R. Stewart, 82, beloved husband of Barbara "Bobbi" (Riggin) Stewart died on Tuesday November 8, 2016 at Apple Rehab Middletown.

Jack was born in Laurel, Mississippi on January 19, 1934 to the late Basil Ogden Stewart and Jewel (Byrd) Stewart. They moved to Buffalo, NY in 1945 where he attended Kenmore High School, then Purdue University where he received a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering. While at Purdue, he joined the army ROTC and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. Jack met his wife Bobbi, at Aberdeen Proving grounds where they were married. He was stationed in Germany with the 710th Ordnance Battalion, attached to the 85th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain division.

After serving in the Army for 3 years, Jack went to work at Kaiser Aluminum Corp. at their rolling mill in Spokane, Washington. He moved to Connecticut in 1958 where he worked for the Connecticut Aircraft Nuclear Laboratory (CANEL), a government top-secret project to develop nuclear powered aircraft.

Jack received a Master's degree in Engineering Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and went on to work for Combustion Engineering in 1965 in their Nuclear Power Systems Group as Manager of materials. Other jobs held at Combustion Engineering included Director of Materials and Chemistry, Resident Engineer at Siemen's in Erlangen, Germany, Director of R & D Sales, Director of Proposal Engineering, Director of Financed Projects, and President of Power projects. As an accomplished Engineer, he also published several technical papers and was a member of ASM and AIME. When ABB purchased C-E back in 1989, Jack took an early retirement and started his own consulting business, J.R. Stewart and associates, Inc. After working for over 55 years, he began his retirement in 2005.

Jack was a true renaissance man. He was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Hartford where he taught a course in Metallurgy. He enjoyed singing bass in the church choir. Jack was a talented craftsman being able to design and build his home in Ludlow, Vermont, having built fine pieces of furniture, and was an accomplished maker of antique pewter reproductions. He enjoyed playing golf, tennis, and he was an avid skier, and taught all of his grandchildren how to ski at Okemo Mountain, where he had skied for over 40 years. Jack also enjoyed sailing on his 25' Sirius sailboat, and loved to cook and bake bread at home. He was a proud member of the Connecticut Escoffier Society for many years and was on the Committee' de la Bonne Bouche'. He always made a special Lemon curd for the Abigail Tea Party at the Third Congregational Church.

Jack was very active in the church community serving for many years as Chairman of the Stewardship Committee and also served on the town of Portland Planning and Zoning Board and was the Commissioner of the town of Portland Housing Authority.

Besides his wife of 60 years, Jack is survived by his two sons, Kevin Raymond and Keith Philip, and six grandchildren: Kaitlyn, James, Kylie, Ryan, Patrick and Brianna. He also leaves behind an older brother Robert, and his wife Carol and their two sons, Russell and Douglas. He was predeceased by his oldest son, James, who died of cancer at the age of 24.

A funeral service will be Tuesday, November 29, 2016 at 1 PM at Bradshaw & Sons Funeral Home in Crisfield where the family will receive friends one hour prior. Interment with full military honors will follow in Sunnyridge Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of John Stewart may be made to the Parkinson's disease Foundation (PDF) at www.pdf.org or to the Third Congregational Church memorial fund in Jack's name, 94 Miner Street, Middletown, CT. 06457