A longtime New Westminster resident has left a legacy at home in the Royal City and in places around the world.
Dr. Irwin Stewart, who passed away on June 6, was well-known for his involvement in many organizations, including Shiloh United Church youth group, the Junior Salmonbellies, the Rotary Club of New Westminster and Rotary International.
“He was really involved with the Rotary Club. They did a lot of community projects,” said son Rob Stewart. “He worked in the community for his whole life. On that side of it, I think he would be really proud of his time spent at St. Mary’s Hospital and Royal Columbian. He fought passionately for St. Mary’s, ultimately to no avail, but he was very passionate about that hospital. The hospital went, but the foundation maintained an existence. Over the years they changed it from the hospital foundation to the St. Mary’s Health Foundation and it still goes on. Every year they give out grants for capital equipment and for nursing bursaries to local people.”
Born and raised on a farm in Swan River, Manitoba in 1930, Stewart attended classes in a one-room school house and took correspondence courses. When Stewart was 16, his parents moved their family to the West Coast so they could pursue their educations.
“Most of them went to UBC,” Rob said. “He kind of knew that he wanted to work with people. He started off in university not really knowing, but he thought he might want to do medicine or teach. He really liked working with people or teaching people.”
In his third year at UBC, Stewart decided to pursue medicine – a decision that would benefit people from British Columbia to Africa to Fiji. After marrying Lois and graduating in 1956, the couple went to England the following year and Stewart worked at a number of hospitals.
When Stewart had a sinus infection, he ended up at an ear, nose and throat (ENT) hospital in London, which led him to specialize in otolaryngology. He returned to Canada in 1960, did some specialist training in New York City from 1961 to 1963 and set up a practice in New West in 1963.
While on a vacation to Fiji, Stewart noticed a number of deaf children, which led to him volunteering at a school for deaf children in that country. Another acquaintance mentioned the need for ENT services in Bella Coola.
“He started doing these clinics all up and down the coast. That led to work in other countries in Africa. He had quite a run in Africa,” Rob said. “It was hard for him to say no. If people came to him and said ‘we really have a pressing need here and nobody else is doing this’, he’d try to figure out a way to make it happen.”
Stewart helped initiate a program that collected old hospital equipment and computers that was shipped to clinics in Africa. Teams of physicians, nurses, audiologists, hearing aids specialists and technicians travelled to Zimbabwe and Uganda for more than a decades, doing surgeries to improve people’s lives.
Stewart was awarded the Order of Canada in 2001 and the Order of British Columbia in 2002 in recognition of his efforts to bring health care to remote and underserved community in B.C., the Yukon and the developing world.
Rob said his father set a really good example about the importance of giving back and contributing to the community.
“Your community is obviously where you live, but it’s also broader than that too,” he told the Record.
Longtime New West resident and former city councillor Casey Cook said he became acquainted with Stewart while serving as council’s representative to St. Mary’s Hospital, where Stewart was chief of staff. He said Stewart was friendly, outgoing and always had a smile on his face.
“There isn’t a person that walked the face of this earth that I respected more than Dr. Stewart. This was an incredible, incredible man,” Cook said. “This was a man of tremendous accomplishments. I have never met a more humble man. This guy was an extraordinary human being. I can’t say enough about this man.”
A memorial celebration in honour of Stewart’s life is being held on Saturday, July 8 at 11 a.m. at Queens Avenue United Church, 529 Queens Ave. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donation be made to the Rotary Foundation of Canada (PO Box 493, New Westminster BC V3L 4Y8) to support ongoing health care work in developing nations or the Saint Mary’s Health Foundation (saintmaryshealthfoundaiton.com/donations.html)
