In Memoriam: Professor Margaret Stewart

The Chicago-Kent community mourns the death of Professor Emeritus Margaret Stewart, an astute legal scholar who taught civil procedure, federal courts and constitutional law to generations of future lawyers during her 35 years on Chicago-Kent’s faculty. 

“All of us at Chicago-Kent will remember Margaret as an inspiring teacher, a perceptive scholar, a caring mentor and an institutional force for reason,” said Chicago-Kent Dean Harold Krent. 

Professor Stewart joined Chicago-Kent’s faculty in 1977, after serving for three years as an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law. A graduate of Kalamazoo College, she earned her law degree at Northwestern University, where she served as notes and comments editor of the Northwestern University Law Review. 

She was admitted to the New York Bar and worked for the firm of Wilkie, Farr & Gallagher for several years before beginning her academic career. 

Professor Stewart’s scholarship addressed federalism and various aspects of jurisdiction, eventually turning to issues of jurisdiction and the Internet. From 1999 to 2000, she served as project director and reporter for the American Bar Association’s Global Cyberspace Jurisdiction Project. The project’s final report, Achieving Legal and Business Order in Cyberspace: A Report on Global Jurisdiction Issues Created by the Internet, appears at 55 The Business Lawyer 1801 (2000).

Professor Stewart, an avid Star Trek fan, counted numerous good friends among Chicago-Kent’s faculty and alumni.

“Margaret and I were close friends and 'partners' in Civil Procedure for the many years that we both taught it,” said Chicago-Kent Professor Joan Steinman. “Margaret was very smart and knowledgeable, a great sounding board and discussion partner for her colleagues, a terrific teacher for her students, a leader who had the confidence of successive deans because of her good sense and political astuteness, and one who took charge of many important faculty endeavors through her chairmanship of and service on the most significant faculty committees. She greatly contributed to the quality of life—and certainly of my life—at Chicago-Kent.”

Chicago-Kent will hold a memorial service for Professor Stewart following the start of the fall semester. Further details will be forthcoming.