Mike Stewart was born in Munich, Germany on September 28, 1952, the oldest of three sons born to Donald and Betty (Lottie Lavetta Doles) Stewart of Ohio. Mike’s father worked for the US military showing movies to GIs, and the family lived overseas until 1959, when they returned to the US and settled in Dallas. However, they didn’t stay settled for long, and in 1963 were off to Seoul, Korea. On the way, Mike encountered San Francisco for the first time as a shivering summer tourist—and he was smitten. A few years later the family returned to Dallas, where Mike attended high school and, following in his father’s footsteps, worked in a movie theater. Upon graduating, he immediately enrolled as a freshman at UC Berkeley, where he lived in various student co-ops and first tried his hand at cooking. While at Cal, Mike was able to indulge his passions for languages (ancient and modern) and movies (old and new). He especially enjoyed taking the bus to San Francisco to watch Japanese movies and hone his skills in that language. Mike graduated in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in linguistics, but few employment prospects in his field of study. He expanded his job opportunities by taking the civil service exam, leading to stints in air traffic control with the FAA in Tonopah, NV and postal service employment in El Centro, CA.

But Mike was searching for intellectual challenges and decided to embark on a computer science career. He enrolled in a computer school in San Diego’s Old Town and after acquiring the necessary technical skills, found employment in Los Angeles. However, Mike wanted to live in the Bay Area and went to work for Relational Technology, Inc., in Berkeley. He enrolled in graduate studies in applied mathematics at Cal State Hayward (East Bay) and received a master’s degree. In 1985 he entered a doctoral program in statistics at UC Berkeley, where he met Susan, who would become his wife. The following year he entered the world of supercomputers, working on campus part time for Cray Research, Inc. Eventually, Mike decided to leave graduate school and work as a computer scientist full time for Cray. In 2001 he joined the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, the site of his last Cray assignment, where he was employed until his retirement in 2014.

Mike was a true Renaissance man. He was a history buff; an expert cook; a world traveler; a lover of baroque music, impressionist paintings, ancient and modern languages, classic movies and mysteries; and a dedicated practitioner of yoga. He was a devout Christian and member of the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, who participated actively in Sunday Morning Study and the Greek reading group. He was a gentle soul with a heart of gold, who enthusiastically volunteered at First Pres in the kitchen and at Street Meals, conscientiously served on the board of the San Francisco Early Music Society, and wholeheartedly participated in family activities.

Mike passed away peacefully at Kaiser Hospital in Richmond, CA on April 28, 2024. He is survived by his wife Susan (LeRoy) of El Cerrito; step-children Joan Ferrin-Pann (Neal Pann) of Livermore, David Ferrin (Cori Crooks) of El Cerrito, and Mark Weaver (Christine) of Lafayette; Porter, Miles, and Clementine of El Cerrito, Archer and River of Livermore, and John, Katie, Sarah, and Andy of Lafayette, to whom he was Grandpa Mike; his brothers Tony (Sunita) of Texas and Andy of Ohio; sisters-in-law Joan Wright (Peter) of New York and Linda Hunt (Byron) of Nebraska; as well as nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, and cousins. He is, and will continue to be, sorely missed. Donations in his memory can be made to the First Pres Street Meal https://www.fpcberkeley.org/series/street-meal, the YMCA of the East Bay https://ymcaeastbay.org/donate, or the San Francisco Early Music Society https://www.sfems.org/donate.

To send flowers to the family or place a tree in memory of Phillip Michael Stewart, please visit our Tribute Store.