Raised in London, Ontario, Stewart studied psychology and urban & regional planning at Queen's University.  The west coast beckoned and a one-year “visit” became 29.  Graduating from UVic Law School in 1982, Stewart articled with the BC Ministry of Attorney General and entered private practice in 1983 focusing on his preferred areas of practice: real property law including land development and leasing, business and corporate law, and estate planning.

Stewart was founding Chair of the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority and of the Victoria Esquimalt Harbour Society, a past chair of Tourism Victoria and a former co-chair of the Tourism Working Group of the Pacific North West Economic Region.  Stewart is a director of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Foundation and he has served on the boards of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, yep Youth Employment Project, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria Ocean Observatory and the Camosun College Foundation, just to name a few.

In addition to his wife Penny, Stewart's passions include gourmet cooking and a love of the great outdoors. When not at his desk you can find him motorcycling, mountain biking, camping, gardening or chasing his 18 -year-old grandson, Tim, down the ski slopes.