Obituary of David Stewart

David D. Stewart (Doug), 90, of Melbourne, Florida, passed away surrounded by family on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. David was predeceased by his loving wife, Karola, parents and brother Bill. He is survived by his children Jeff and Laura. He is also survived by an extended family of nieces, nephews, sisters-in-law and his beloved dog, Heidi.

Doug was born in Detroit, Michigan, and served in the Army from 1953 to 1955, stationed in Germany. Upon returning from overseas he met and married Karola and graduated from Lawrence Institute of Technology with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He then moved his family to Florida to work for Chrysler on the Apollo program where he was a senior systems engineer on the Saturn 1B. He also worked on the Lunar Lander with Grumman. Doug continued his education, obtaining a Master in System Management from Florida Institute of Technology. At the end of the Apollo program, he returned to Michigan to continue his career with Chrysler on the M1 tank program.

Upon retiring from the M1 program, Doug returned to Florida where he did consulting work with Johnson Controls. He fully retired in 2001 and enjoyed life with Karola, pursing his hobbies and devoting time to volunteer projects. He traveled through much of Western Europe and also loved cruising in the Caribbean, Alaska and on the Danube. After restoring an MG, he turned his interest to woodworking, building a complete shop in his garage. Doug devoted time to Habitat for Humanity and the Sharing Center and was part of the first group of volunteers at Viera hospital. He was also a founding member of the Faith Viera Lutheran Church and worked on the building committee.

A celebration of life will be held at Faith Viera Lutheran Church on Saturday June 10th at 11 am. Visitation will be held an hour prior at 10 am.