Thomas Shearer Stewart was born on October 25, 1882, in Prince Albert, then the Northwest Territories, now Saskatchewan.
In 1884, following the sudden death of his father, his mother returned with her three young children to Montreal. As a young boy, Tom had injured his right eye and, in 1899, when he was 16, he severely injured the same eye. A doctor was summoned to the family’s country home in Beaconsfield but, much to the horror of Tom’s family, the surgeon removed the good eye, leaving Tom totally blind. On hearing of the tragedy, William C. Macdonald, founder of the Macdonald Tobacco Company and one of the Royal Trust’s directors, formed a group of 60 Montreal businessmen to set up a trust for Thomas. The income from this trust helped Thomas attend McGill University, where he studied law with his younger brother William who read the law texts to him, and their sister Graham was given special permission to write Thomas’ examinations. In 1908, at graduation, Tom and Will were awarded the gold and silver medals respectively and left for France, where they continued their studies in Dijon. Upon their return to Montreal, they set up a law practice together. When World War I broke out, Will enlisted, and tragically, he was killed in action on October 20, 1918. Tom continued practicing law until his retirement during World War II.
He never let his blindness restrict his life. He married Margaret Alice Gardner in 1913 and together they had six children. He was an avid fisherman and woodsman, who loved to swim, dive, paddle, and row both for pleasure and in competition.
He died on December 23, 1965, in Montreal, Quebec.
