Edward Stuart

Edward Francis Stuart, Jr., 94, a longtime civic leader in Galveston County, died June 1, 2015 in Friendswood, TX.

Ed served as Friendswood City Council member (1967-70 & 1989-94), and Friendswood Mayor (1970-72). In 1994, He became the first Republican Galveston County Commissioner to be elected since 1876 in the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era. Ed served numerous other civic roles including President of the Friendswood Chamber of Commerce (1973-74); President of the Friendswood Rotary Club (1981-82).

He was born April 11, 1921, in Victoria, TX, the son of Edward and Clara Kubecka Stuart. He attended St. Joseph's High School where he was valedictorian and Victoria Jr. College during the Great Depression. With the onset of WWII, Ed joined the US Army Air Corps as a navigator flying B-17 bombers. His bomber was shot down in a bombing raid over Germany in 1944. He and the crew's other survivors were POWs at Stalag Luft 1 in Rostock until their liberation by Soviet soldiers in 1945.

At the end of the war, he attended the University of Texas, remaining an avid, lifelong, "Longhorn". While at UT, Ed was elected the National President of the Newman Club Federation, a Catholic student's organization.

On earning his degree, Ed worked as a C.P.A. for Arthur Anderson & Co., KXYZ Radio, Salt Dome Oil Co., and Glenn McCarthy, the oil wildcatter. After an oil recession in the late '50s, He turned to homebuilding. This new career brought Ed to Friendswood, at the same time another new neighbor arrived in the area -- NASA. He pioneered numerous Friendswood neighborhoods and built Friendswood's first shopping center, Stones Throw Center, which he owned and managed until his death.

Ed was preceded in death by his parents and his half-brother Daniel Stuart.

He is survived by four children, Edward Stuart and his wife Jennifer Keenan Stuart of Chicago, IL, Richard Stuart and his wife Karen Ray of Denver, CO, Ellen Tarver of Sugar Land, TX, and Marian Stuart of Kalispell, MT: and grandchildren, Sean Tarver, Kianna Stuart-Storm, and Kilian and Olivia Zindel; and many other relatives and cherished friends.

The family would especially like to thank Charisse Arning, Bob Digilio, and Jackie Ndabula for the excellent care they provided our father.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations are made in his memory to K9S for Warriors at www.k9sforwarriors.org.

Friends are cordially invited to the visitation with the family on Thursday, June 4, 2015 from 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. at the Jeter Memorial Funeral Home Chapel, 311 N. Friendswood Dr., Friendswood, TX 77546 (281) 992-7200.

The funeral service will be held on Friday, June 5, 2015 at 2:00 P.M. at the Jeter Memorial Funeral Home Chapel with The Rev. Robert Wareing officiating. Interment will be held at the Houston National Cemetery at a later date.

Condolences may be sent to the Stuart family in care of Jeter Memorial Funeral Home at www.jeterfuneralhome.com.