Frank M. Stewart ’39

Preceded at Princeton by his father, George B. Stewart Jr. 1906, his grandfather, George B. Stewart Sr. 1876, his brother, George B. Stewart III ’36, and other relatives, Frank was born in Beirut, Lebanon, where his father was secretary-treasurer of the American University of Beirut.

Profoundly intellectually curious, he earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard, having worked in operational analysis for the Eighth Air Force during the war. In 1947 he began teaching at Brown, where he remained for his entire career, with visiting professorships in London and at Tougaloo College in Mississippi. In later years he published important work in population biology, mutation rates, and genetics.

Frank was a passionate advocate of social justice, especially regarding Palestine and capital punishment. He enjoyed origami, Byzantine icon painting, travel, and many other activities, including building his own computers. In 2005 he attended the 100th anniversary of the American Community School in Beirut.

Caroline, his wife of 45 years, died in 1991. Of her, Frank quoted Proverbs in our 40th-reunion book saying, “A good wife is to be valued above rubies.”

Frank died Nov. 2, 2011. He is survived by his son, William, to whom the class extends its sympathy.