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John Arthur Stewart
October 20, 1931 - August 23, 2015
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<div itemprop="description">Stewart, John Arthur, Major General (Ret&rsquo;d) RCAF and CAF, CD, B.Eng, MASc, D.Eng, P.Eng<br /><br />John, or Stew as he was better known, passed away peacefully on Sunday, August 23 at Kingston General Hospital just shy of his 84th birthday. He is survived by his loving wife of 62 years, Isabel; his children Ken and his wife Peggy, Allen and his wife Angela, Greg and his wife Monique, and Lynn and her husband John; his grandchildren, Theresa, Ian, Alexander, Kyle, Sarah, Dani&egrave;le, Shauna and Michael. He had a long and distinguished career in the RCAF and CAF. Entering Royal Roads Military College in 1949 at the age of 17 having already received his pilot&rsquo;s licence, he graduated from the Royal Military College in Kingston in 1953. Following an additional year of study at Queen&rsquo;s University he was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. After a short, but exciting, stint as a pilot in the RCAF, he transferred to the Construction Engineering Branch. Over his 37 years of service to his country as a Military Engineer he lived, travelled and worked across the breadth of Canada, spent five years in Germany and Belgium, and circumnavigated the globe. Of all of his varied positions, his most cherished was as Commandant of RMC from 1980-82. He retired in 1986 as the senior serving military engineer in the CAF. After his retirement he became very active with the Air Cadet Program giving back to an organization that launched him on his flying career. He also devoted considerable energy to the RMC Club of Canada and was eventually elected President. In recognition of his service, he was awarded on Honorary Doctorate in Engineering from RMC, was appointed Colonel Commandant of the Canadian Military Engineers, and had a trophy named after him that is awarded annually to the top graduating Military Engineering Student from RMC. In addition to his great passions for flying and engineering, John was an avid bird watcher, fencer, runner, badminton player, skier, curler, bridge player and very bad golfer. He often expressed his desire to be reincarnated as an Osprey so that he could combine two of his loves, fishing and flying. Most of all he loved his morning backgammon game with Isabel. He was a very devoted family man and an inspiration to his family, friends and colleagues. A memorial service commemorating his life will be held at Currie Hall, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario on 12 September 2015 at 1:00 pm. A reception at the RMC Senior Staff Mess will follow. His family wishes to express their thanks to the staff at KGH and especially the ICU for their kindness and compassionate care. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Air Cadet League of Canada would be appreciated.<br /></div>