David E. Steward

David Eyre Steward died on October 15, 2024, shortly after he was diagnosed with abdominal carcinoma. Until the day he was hospitalized he worked on his last poetry series that will be published in early 2025.
David was born on April29, 1936 in Doylestown, PA, son of Frederic Evans Steward and Anne née Aucoin who lived on Sandy Ridge Rd in Stockton, NJ. David's brother Peter was born May 17,1939. Frederic died in the spring of 1944, a big shock for the family, especially Anne, who was hospitalized for over a year following her husband's death. David and Peter were sent to live with their aunt Florence, who was an Episcopalian missionary at St. Stephen Mission in Elkton, VA in the Shenandoah Valley. The school friends, the local people, many of whom had a hardscrabble life, but also the surrounding nature were lasting memories for David, and he comes back to these memories again and again in his work. He also stayed in contact with some of the friends he made during that year. In 1945, Anne bought a small house on Mount Airy Rd off Sandy Ridge in Stockton, NJ, where she lived until her death in 1998. Once back in NJ, Anne and her sons joined the Quaker community and received fellowships to attend Buckingham Friend's School and George School. There, David met his two life-long friends Charles Wells and David Dillard.
At seventeen David started at Williams College. After his second year, he volunteered to serve in the Army. He spent some of his time in Korea after the armistice, another lasting impression, and became particularly interested in the development of Korea after the war. After his deployment he continued to his studies at Williams and graduated with a BA in history in 1960. During his studies he decided that he wanted to be a writer and he kept true to this decision throughout his life. With a small inheritance he traveled and lived for several years in different places in Western Europe and spent almost two years in South Africa, Swaziland and Tanzania. His intention was to learn about the Apartheid and its consequences. Again he made life-long friends.
Upon his return from Africa he needed to support himself and worked for three seasons in the Forest Service as a crewman, on a fire tower, and as a ranger in the Angeles National Forrest north of Los Angeles. During that time he met his wife Ruth Silberschmidt. David and Ruth got married in 1971 in Basel, Switzerland. Ruth went back to school and David had part-time jobs to support his writing. After time in Charlottesville, VA and Tübingen, Germany, they settled in Princeton in 1982. In 1986, David started working on his life's work. Every month he wrote one long poem, which he titled by the name of the month in different languages. David's months embrace topics from nature, arts, music, events, and include his observations about the world and life in general. The inspiration for these month poems came from his daily life, his reading, his travels. For instance, the experience of sailing with one of his best friends from Hawaii to Tahiti, or from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Nome, Alaska through the Northern Pacific is captured in Chroma in different months.
David was mainly a small press prose and poetry writer and published most of his work in literary journals. Thirty years of his months are collected and published under the title Chroma Volumes 1-6:: Archae Editions in 2018. The last eight years of months written after Chroma will be published as Chronica at the beginning of 2025. David was passionate about his work. He was working on his last month, August 2024, the day he was hospitalized.
Books were David's constant companions throughout his life, fueling his insatiable curiosity and love for learning. He read widely, constantly exploring new aspects of the subjects that fascinated him. When he wasn't writing, he was reading-to inform his work, to educate himself, and simply for the joy of it. David shared his enthusiasm with family, friends, and neighbors, radiating openness and positivity. He embraced life fully, and his energy, engagement, kindness, and affection remain his most memorable qualities.
On his hospital bed, when asked whether he wanted his biography to be included as preface to Chronica, maybe Chroma as well, David said, "The whole damn thing is a biography."
David was a treasured husband; his marriage to Ruth spanned cultures and intellectual interests and combined two powerful, generous and inexhaustible people. David was a brother and a son; a cousin and uncle in the Steward, Aucoin and Silberschmidt families; and a great and singular friend to many, all of whom miss him.
In memory of David please donate to Words-without borders (https://secure.givelively.org/donate/words-without-borders) or your favorite charity.