STEWART, ANDREW IVAN (ANDY) - At Ottawa, Ontario on August 22, 2012. Born at Zionville, New Brunswick, son of the late Bruce and Levinia (Dott Dodds) Stewart. He is survived by his wife Mary and daughter Cindy, both of Ottawa, a son Danny of Calgary, and three sisters, Ina MacLaggan of Stanley, New Brunswick, Jean Dougherty and Faye (Basil) Stewart, both from Taymouth, New Brunswick, and a grandson Jason of Abbotsford, B.C. He was predeceased by a brother William (Norma) Stewart of Noonan, New Brunswick, a sister Vera (Bill) MacBean and brothers-in-law Allan Dougherty and Mac MacLaggan. He attended the Ontario Agricultural College (now the University of Guelph) on a diploma course and was licensed in New Brunswick to grade and process dairy products. He was employed by Capital Co-Operative in Fredericton where he was the butter maker for a number of years and set up and operated the first equipment for milk processing and retailing. He was employed for ten years in the Soil Science Section at the Agricultural Research Station in Fredericton. He became active in the local employee association and together with a co-worker was responsible for activities which led to the formation in 1960 of a national organization to represent Canada Agriculture employees across Canada known as the Canada Agriculture National Employees' Association. He served as a part-time national officer of the new organization, as National Vice-President from 1960 to 1962 and then as National President until 1966. In 1967, he moved to Ottawa as the full-time National President of the newly-formed Agriculture Union of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. From 1962 to 1966, as a National President of CANEA, he served with fourteen other Presidents on the Presidents' Conference on Unity which negotiated a merger to form the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). From 1966 to 1970, he served on the National Board of Directors of the PSAC as the National President of the Agriculture Union and as an Executive Vice-President of the PSAC from 1970 to 1976, then as the National President of the PSAC until his retirement in 1982. He was the first native of New Brunswick to head a major national union in Canada. From 1976 to 1982, he served as a Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress and as a member of the Executive Committee of the worldwide Public Services International. He was a labour delegate from Canada to the International Labour Organization of the United Nations in Geneva in 1978. He was one of six founders of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He was awarded the Centennial Medal in 1967 and the Twenty-fifth Anniversary Medal in 1977. He was a long-time member of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 4, in Fredericton.
The family will receive friends at McEvoy-Shields Funeral Home, 1411 Hunt Club Road (at Albion Road) 613-737-7900 on Sunday from 2 to 4 & 7 to 9 p.m. Funeral Service on Monday at 11 a.m. in the Chapel. For those who might wish to make an In Memoriam donation, gifts to the Ottawa Heart Institute at the Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital, the Canadian Cancer Society, or a charity of choice would be appreciated by the family. On line condolences may be sent to mcevoy-shields.com.