Mack Wylie Stewart died peacefully on February 16, 2025. He was born 5/11/1933 in Fort Worth Texas to Helen Buchanan Stewart and Wylie Stewart. He was a proud and devoted graduate of the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, class of 1955, and he served in the United States Army after the Korean War and was stationed at the DMZ. He also worked in the Merchant Marine and in the oil fields of Texas; however, he spent his 40 year professional career in the newspaper business where he did everything from delivering newspapers to becoming an editor and publisher for the Torrington Register Citizen and the Middletown Press.
He was most proud of founding Warm the Children 31 years ago. Warm the Children is a charity that provides warm clothing for children in need. He started the program while working for the Troy Record in Troy, NY. Warm the Children now has 28 programs throughout the northeast and upper midwest and it has clothed thousands of children.
When he retired from the newspaper business, he continued his work with Warm the Children, and he became a volunteer for Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Service in New Haven where he loved helping newly placed immigrants and refugees learn English and find employment.
When not helping others, he loved fishing, golfing, playing tennis, hiking, and traveling with his wife, Natalie.
Mack is predeceased by his wife, Natalie, with whom he was married for 63 years.
Survivors include his brother, Charlie Stewart, and his sister, Catherine Stewart Roach; his daughters, Mary Stewart (Andrew Tay), Amy Stewart (Benjamin Ford), and Dianne Holst-Grubbe (Erik Holst-Grubbe), and grandchildren, Safia Ziani, Nadia Ziani, Adam Ziani, Peter Ford, Anna Ford, Nathan Holst-Grubbe, and Sam Holst-Grubbe, and his great grandchildren, Ara Chase, Benny Rosen, Rhodes Chase, and Amira Rosen.
Mack's daughter, Mary, now manages all Warm the Children programs. If you would like to send donations in Mack’s memory, please send to Warm the Children, ℅ Mary Stewart, 100 N. Staebler Road, Suite C, Ann Arbor, MI 48103.
A private memorial service will be held at a later date.
Condolences to the Stewart Family. I had the pleasure to play tennis with Mack at the Old Saybrook Racquet Club for ten years. If you were lucky enough to know Mack, then you have been lucky enough. He will be remembered as being among the best of the best.
Gary Agasi
Mack was a true gentleman of the highest order: smart, kind to the core, generous, thoughtful in all meanings of that word. He made his corner of the world a better place. My husband played tennis with him with the Dawn Patrol, which Mack was surely the Social Director of. He brought the group close together. He is one person who should have been immortal and we are both sad to lose him.
Sally Perreten
So sorry to learn of Mack’s passing. I was honored to be able to call him a friend and also enjoyed being in the company of he and Natalie several times. It was on the golf course where I really got to know him and gained a real appreciation of his timely good humor. He will be missed.
Oz Murphy