Alexander Marshall Stewart, 1936-2022
Alexander Marshall Stewart died on March 29 at his home in St. Augustine, Florida, where his son and daughter were caring for him.
“Sandy” had a sharp wit and a raucous laugh. Like a true and lifelong New Englander, he was equal parts gregarious and cantankerous. Rarely seen without a cigar, he made the sunset rounds on his pontoon boat in the summer at his beloved West Pond in East Parsonsfield, Maine; in his adopted home of St. Augustine, Florida, he made the rounds on foot, and was known fondly as “the mayor of Publix."
He was born in Everett, Massachusetts on July 24, 1936 to Arthur Lyall and Henrietta Virginia (Dares) Stewart. He was raised in Portland and Cornish, Maine. Sandy was a very smart guy who graduated fourth in his class from Cornish High School — in a class of four. He went on to be the first in his family to graduate from college.
He served in the US Navy in the mid-1950s as a seaman aboard the USS Randolph. He worked as a repo man for General Electric before going to work as a beat cop in Portland, Maine and then enrolling in the University of Maine at Orono. He worked for two decades for Ortho Pharmaceuticals, a division of Johnson & Johnson, selling birth control to doctors in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Sandy was a guy who loved to have fun. One evening on the pond in Maine, not ready to concede the end of the day’s fun to the encroaching darkness, he attached a suction-cup flashlight to his forehead and went right on water-skiing. The resulting red welt on his forehead lasted a week. In Italy, when told he could not bring alcohol aboard ship, he bought a doll to bring home to his kid sister — and secreted a bottle inside it. His commanding officer was none the wiser, and his sister still tells the story of the doll.
Sandy loved spending time with friends, loved a game of golf, and loved his golden lab, Ben. He was an avid reader — of everything from spy thrillers to the memoirs of Maya Angelou. He travelled the world and made friends anywhere he went.
He didn’t have much of a filter. Meeting his son’s partner for the first time, after only haven spoken to her on the phone, he blurted out “I thought you’d be fat,” to which she replied, after a time: “I thought you’d be handsome.” And he laughed that booming laugh.
He is predeceased by his wife, Ellen, and brothers Arthur Lyall, Harry and Jimmy.
He leaves his son, David Marshall Stewart and his partner Lois; daughter Kathryn Elizabeth (Stewart) Smith and her husband Bob; Grandchildren Madeleine and Alexander (Axel) Stewart and Kaitlin Smith; and his sisters, Nancy Perkins and Jane Stewart.
The longer he lived, the more progressive Sandy became in his political views. If he disagreed with your politics, he let you know it at top volume.
On his death bed, he wanted a cigarette and a lobster.
He is missed.
Memorial donations are greatly appreciated and can be made to the West Pond Association to help preserve water quality and habitat. Checks may be made out to "West Pond Association” and mailed to Dennis Spinney, 235 Bolt Hill Rd. Eliot, ME 03903.