Stewart Metz, M.D.

Stewart Metz, M.D., age 70, died on September 15, 2017 after a long battle with cancer. Born in New York City, he trained at Yale (Scholar of the House & summa cum laude) & Yale Medical School, and was tenured Professor of Medicine at University of Colorado and University of Wisconsin respectively. He was Chief of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and Head of the Diabetes Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Stewart returned to Seattle in the '90s to join some of his former UW colleagues at the Pacific Northwest Diabetes Research Institute. In his 30+ year medical career, Dr. Metz was an accomplished researcher with extensive publications, authoring 120+ scientific publications & serving as a clinician, biomedical researcher, administrator & teacher.

Stewart was always a world traveler - but a trip to Indonesia in 2001 changed his life completely. After witnessing wild Indonesian cockatoo trapping & the poverty of those in the trade, his passion to protect & conserve Indonesian cockatoos was ignited. He ultimately left the medical profession & used his research skills in support of preservation of wild parrots by forming a non-profit. In 2002, he became Director of the Indonesian Parrot Project (IPP). This became his passion & his life legacy.

Stewart knew that poverty-stricken villagers in parrot-rich areas would keep trapping birds for sale. In 2004, he co-founded a rescue, rehabilitation & release facility on Seram Island to help parrots confiscated from the illegal trade to return to the wild. In 2008, he rediscovered a cockatoo that was thought to have gone extinct - the Abbotti cockatoo.

Stewart was also a musician & a member of The Original Sinners and performed as a soloist at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival.

Stewart is survived by sister Arlene Moretz, mother Shirlee (Lovey) Metz, niece Michaele Moretz Sosinski and her husband Ben Sosinski, & grand-nephews Joe and Cole. He will be missed by his friends Dr. Hank Kaplan, Len Johnson, Nate and Betsy Lott, Bonnie Zimmermann & Stephanie Allen as well as countless others in the medical & wild bird conservation communities.

The Indonesian Parrot Project has established the Stewart Metz Memorial Fund for the Seram avian rescue center. To donate, please visit http://indonesian-parrot-project.org/

Please sign Stewart's online Guestbook at www.Legacy.com.