Kent Kallam Stewart

Kent Kallam Stewart died in Austin, Texas, on June 26, 2024. He was born on September 5, 1934, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Grace and George Stewart. He loved his wife Peggy, whom he met in high school algebra class, their first date born of a dare from her younger brother Norm. After attending the University of California at Berkeley together, Peggy and Kent were married in Davis, California, on June 10, 1956. Their adventures continued through 58 years of marriage, four children, nine grandchildren, homes in nine cities, and travel to five continents. Peggy and Kent launched their children into the world with a strong work ethic and – at a minimum – an undergraduate education. Peggy died in 2015 and is always missed.

Kent never graduated from high school, leaving early to start college at the University of Chicago, where he enjoyed the art and jazz of Chicago more than university courses. He returned to California and received a bachelor’s degree from Berkeley, then served in the Marine Corps. He subsequently earned his PhD in Biochemisty from Florida State University. What followed was a rich and prolific career as a food scientist, from his post-doc at The Rockefeller University to Chief of the Nutrition Laboratory at the USDA to a professor at Virginia Tech University and finally to an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He held several patents (including one for flow injection analysis) and co-edited the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis with Peggy.

As a Boy Scout, Kent visited Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico, sparking a family interest in camping and fly fishing. His parents began vacationing at the Covered Wagon Ranch along the Gallatin River in Montana in the 1970s, inviting the whole Stewart clan to fish and tell tall tales around the campfire. The family cabin bought in 2000 became Kent’s and Peggy’s summer home, with rainbow trout dinners, bear stories, and watching the Perseid meteor shower in August.

Peggy and Kent moved to Austin in 1996, and quickly found the city’s people, ideas and quirkiness a fit. They attended lectures through UT’s Quest, and were loyal Friends of the LBJ Library, regular duplicate bridge players at the Bridge Center of Austin, and always in the audience of Austin Playhouse and Austin Opera. Kent loved Bach, soccer games, and Louis Martini wine. His favorite places to be were either fly fishing on Upper Taylor Fork or dining at that new restaurant he hadn’t yet tried. Kent loved food – from his mother’s Gourmet recipes to Peggy’s lemon meringue pie to fried oysters wherever they could be found. If you visited him in Austin, he likely took you to Stiles Switch BBQ, Din Ho or Julio’s. He read extensively about WWII and loved to talk politics. His laugh was so characteristic that friends could identify him across a darkened movie theatre. He was most at home with family.

After Peggy died, Kent kept traveling. He joined a Road Scholar safari to Tanzania and Kenya, vacationed with his best college friend in Kauai, and drove back and forth to summer in Montana. In 2020, Kent moved to a riverfront condo at the Towers of Town Lake, and later to the Village at the Triangle where he enjoyed community, live music, outings, and compassionate care. Kent and his family are especially grateful for the support and kindnesses of Blue Water Hospice for almost two years.

Kent is survived by his children, Beth Barnes, Cindy Stewart, Rich Stewart, and Rob Stewart; his grandchildren, Erin, Laura, David, Paige, Sam, Grace, Lily, Jack and Casey; his great-grandson Salmos; his children-in-law, Craig Barnes, Andy Austin, Elizabeth Stewart, and Cindy Fuentes; and his sisters, Carol Kinney and Jan Stewart (and their husbands, Doug Lofstrom and Neil Burkhardt).

Please raise a glass to Kent and share a story and a laugh. Memorial contributions may be made to the Texas program of Casting for Recovery (which sponsors free fly fishing wellness retreats for women with breast cancer) (https://castingforrecovery.org/), to the Madison-Gallatin Chapter of Trout Unlimited (https://www.mgtu.org/about-madison-gallatin-trout-unlimited), or to the LBJ Foundation (https://www.lbjlibrary.org/foundation/donate). Services will be private.