In Memory of David W. Stewart MS’76, PhD’79
David Wood Stewart MS’76, PhD’79 died on October 28, 2025, at Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community, Asheville, NC. He was 95. A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, he was born on December 12, 1929, the son of S. Glenn and Esther Wood Stewart. In 1952–53, he served as an enlisted man in the 25th Infantry Division during the Korean War. Dr. Stewart held a BA in history from The College of Wooster. He earned an MS and a PhD in adult and continuing education from the University of Wisconsin. In his earlier career, he held various administrative positions at University of Wisconsin Extension and the University of Wisconsin System Administration, Office of Academic Affairs. He later joined the staff of the American Council on Education’s Center for Adult Learning and Educational Credentials in Washington, DC, as director of program development. He also served as an adjunct faculty member in graduate programs at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland.
Dr. Stewart was the author of a biography of the adult education philosopher Eduard C. Lindeman that won two national awards. He was the author or co-author of three other books and numerous journal articles on education topics. In 1996, he was elected to membership in the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame.He was an avid hiker, but his passion was canoeing, fishing, and camping in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area. On these trips, he was often accompanied by his son, Mark, with whom he shared a love for the wilderness and natural areas. Later, it gave him great pleasure to see that his two granddaughters also became Boundary Waters aficionados. He was active in starting, belonging to, and supporting environmental groups wherever he lived.
David and his wife, Billie Stewart, retired to Asheville, where he found great joy in a variety of civic and recreational activities. A particular interest was UNC–Asheville’s North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement (now the Osher Lifelong Learning Center), where he taught classes in history and biography and served a term as chair of that organization’s Steering Council. He also loved taking classes at the Center and was a book collector. He was a biweekly local columnist for the Asheville Citizen-Times in 2005–06 and wrote a number of guest editorials in the paper in more recent years. He loved all aspects of being a grandfather, most especially writing and illustrating books for and sometimes with his grandchildren.
