Stewart was born February 12, 1920 to Vera Wandling Mulford and Walter Mulford in Berkeley, CA. He grew up in Berkeley but as a young man lived in Chicago, then Indianapolis. While in Indianapolis he met Gertrude “Trudy” Laney. They were married under the care of Indianapolis Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) on June 29, 1947. During their life together they lived in a number of places in California, but also in Indiana, Ohio and Virginia. They moved to Eugene, OR in 1989. Trudy passed away in 1993. Stewart was remarried in 2004 to Jill Hoyenga under the care of Eugene Monthly Meeting.
Stewart graduated from University of California, Berkeley in 1940 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He earned a Masters degree in Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles in 1964. He was a Registered Mechanical Engineer in California. During most of his career he worked on a variety of processes for obtaining fresh water from seawater and other saline waters. Stewart was a employed by the U.S. Department of Interior Office of Saline Water, a government agency with a mission to develop the first municipal scale desalination plants in the United States. He spent the majority of those years of employment in San Diego managing a prototype facility at Point Loma from 1966 to 1973. At the close of the Point Loma project the facility was ready for production and was moved to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to provide drinking water for a U.S. military installation. The Office of Saline Water published several technical reports intended to facilitate the transition of municipal scale desalination from a government pilot program to a commercially viable business. Stewart authored two of those technical reports. Most recently his co-authored report Effects of Waste Discharge from Point Loma Saline Water Conversion Plant on Intertidal Marine Life was cited in an article titled Desalination: Drought relief or liability? published May 14, 2015. In 1973 Stewart was awarded the highest commendation in the Department of the Interior for meritorious service. After the Office of Saline Water closed, Stewart worked for Fluor Corporation. He was on a team that advised the initial development of municipal scale desalination in Saudi Arabia, Israel and Indonesia. He retired in 1983.
From childhood Stewart loved experiencing natural surroundings, particularly hiking in national, state and local parks and forests. In Eugene, he was active in efforts to enhance the Howard Buford Recreation Area (HBRA, locally known as Mt. Pisgah or Buford Park). Stewart was a devoted member of the Friends of Buford Park (FBP), serving as a Board Member 1992 - 2005. He created, chaired and served on the FBP Trails Committee. Stewart’s meticulous documentation of the HBRA trail system lead to the creation of the current trail map posted at each major trailhead throughout the park. He surveyed and mapped every linear foot of trails at Buford Park and participated on the committee that developed the trail management plan adopted by the County in 1995. He conducted a second trail survey in 2007 and was a primary designer and builder of trail #7. Stewart and his friend Dave Preedick were the first members of a FBP habitat restoration volunteer group now known as the “Monday Morning Regulars” (MMR). Today the MMR group, under the leadership of Dave Preedick, consistently records the greatest number of annual volunteer hours of any FBP volunteer effort. When Stewart was no longer able to safely work on the mountain he faithfully served in the office in any capacity but especially as historian. His most recent effort was compiling a history of the creation of the FBP Native Plant Nursery. At the age of 81, Stewart was the unanimous choice of the Lane County Parks Advisory Committee for their first Volunteer of the Year award in 2000 for his work with Friends of Buford Park because of, "his energy, commitment and passion for providing trail improvements at the Howard Buford Recreation Area."
Stewart has been an active member of Friends’ Meetings (Quakers) wherever he has lived. He was a member of La Jolla (CA) Friends Meeting, Orange County (CA) Friends Meeting, Grass Valley (CA) Friends Meeting and Eugene (OR) Friends Meeting. He brought his Quaker practice into every part of his life, particularly using Quaker business practices in leadership positions from the Urban League in the 1950’s, to his professional life and his leadership at Friends of Buford Park. Stewart traveled in the ministry as a Quakerism 101 facilitator. Many people in his faith communities learned “how to be a Quaker” in courses that he taught or organized due to his dedication to sharing the principles of Quakerism to newcomers. His most recent effort in this regard was a series of courses about significant Quaker personages that took place in spring 2015. Since his arrival in 1989, Stewart has been a beloved elder of Eugene Friends Meeting and will be greatly missed.