Friday, November 6, 2026
Robert Stewart (aka Bob, Stu, Rob) passed away peacefully on Saturday, August 30, 2025. He was best known to many as a gentle, powerful force who generously served on many non-profit committees and boards, wisely guiding the financial and directional decisions wherever he went. Some committees included: The Naples Country Club, Castle in the Clouds of New Hampshire, Great Waters Music Festival, and Lakes Region Preservation Trust. They all benefited from his guidance. Throughout his life he dearly loved his family as well as golf, snow skiing, reading, boating, and traveling.
He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on February 13, 1941, to parents James and Mildred Stewart. He grew up in Cranston, Rhode Island and excelled in all the school sports but really started shining when he entered Northeastern University September 1959. He joined Alpha Kappa Sigma Fraternity and while he enjoyed fraternity social life, parties and events, particularly fraternity sports, he dove wholeheartedly into his studies where he continued to excel throughout college. He participated in a cooperative work study program which gave him hands-on experience in various companies in New York City.
After graduation, he married Sally Freihofer Stewart and joined the Air Force. They lived in Nebraska, California, and Massachusetts. After being discharged, he worked for Harris Corporation in Quincy, Illinois, and other locations including Melbourne, Florida, and Germany. During this time, they had two children, Jennifer and Michael. He moved his family to Windham, New Hampshire, where he worked for General Electric. Then in the early 1990s, he and Sally retired to Moultonborough, New Hampshire, and lived on Lake Winnipesaukee until Sally became ill with and died from cancer. He also got cancer in 2017, which he beat.
He lived in Scarborough, Maine, and Portland, Maine before moving to Naples, Florida, in October 2020, where he met and married his second wife, Catharine Repine Stewart, and moved to Marco Island, Florida.
He is survived by his wife Catharine, his daughter Jennifer Stewart Cleary and her husband David (Naples, Florida), and their children Spencer (Portland, Maine), Robert (Brookhaven, Georgia), and Chase (Davenport, Iowa). Additionally, he is survived by his son Michael and his wife Barbara (Flemington, New Jersey, and Moultonborough, New Hampshire) and their children Samuel (Boston, Massachusetts) and Lucy (Flemington, New Jersey). He is also survived by his sister Carol Allen (Manchester, Connecticut).
A private Celebration of Life will be held on Marco Island in the near future.
He will be remembered with love and missed by all who knew him.
Memorial contributions may be made in his honor to Castle in the Clouds.
October 2, 2025 Coastal Breeze News
