James Drewry Stewart, (March 29, 1941December 3, 2014) was a Canadian mathematician, violinist, and professor emeritus of mathematics at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

. Stewart is best known for his series of

calculus Calculus is the mathematics, mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithmetic operations. Originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the ...

textbooks used for high school, college, and university-level courses.

Career

Stewart received his master of science at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and his doctor of philosophy from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 1967. He worked for two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, where his research focused on

harmonic In physics, acoustics, and telecommunications, a harmonic is a sinusoidal wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'' of a periodic signal. The fundamental frequency is also called the ''1st har ...

and

functional analysis Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (for example, Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics ...

. His books are standard textbooks in universities in many countries. One of his best-known textbooks is ''Calculus: Early Transcendentals'' (1995), a set of textbooks which is accompanied by
website
for students. Stewart was also a violinist and a former member of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.

Integral House

From 2003 to 2009 a house designed by Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe was constructed for Stewart in the Rosedale neighbourhood of Toronto at a cost of $32 million. He paid an additional $5.4 million for the existing house and lot which was torn down to make room for his new home. Called Integral House (a reference to its curved walls, and their similarity to the mathematical

integral symbol The integral symbol (''see below'') is used to denote integrals and Antiderivative, antiderivatives in mathematics, especially in calculus. History The notation was introduced by the Germany, German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz i ...

), the house includes a concert hall that seats 150. Stewart has said, "My books and my house are my twin legacies. If I hadn't commissioned the house I'm not sure what I would have spent the money on." Glenn Lowry, director of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, called the house "one of the most important private houses built in North America in a long time."

Personal life and political activism

Stewart was gay and involved in

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

activism. According to Joseph Clement, a documentary filmmaker who is working on a film about Stewart and Integral House, Stewart brought gay rights activist George Hislop to speak at McMaster in the early 1970s, when the LGBT liberation movement was in its infancy, and was involved in protests and demonstrations.

Death

In the summer of 2013, Stewart was diagnosed with

multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibody, antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone ...

, a blood cancer. He died on December 3, 2014, aged 73.

Honors

In 2015, he was posthumously awarded the

Meritorious Service Cross The Meritorious Service Cross () is a State decoration, decoration that is, within the Orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, Canadian system of honours, one of the two Meritorious Service Decorations gifted by the Monarchy of Canada, Canadia ...

Publications

Books

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References

External links

*
Stewart Calculus
Official Biography
The house that math built
by Katie Daubs at the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

*
Integral Man
'', a documentary about Stewart and Integral House {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, James 1941 births 2014 deaths Deaths from cancer in Ontario Deaths from multiple myeloma in Canada Canadian mathematicians Canadian textbook writers Canadian classical violinists Canadian male violinists and fiddlers Academic staff of McMaster University Stanford University alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto University of Toronto alumni Canadian LGBTQ rights activists Musicians from Toronto Scientists from Toronto Writers from Toronto 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers Canadian gay writers Canadian LGBTQ scientists Recipients of the Meritorious Service Decoration 20th-century Canadian male musicians LGBTQ mathematicians 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people Canadian LGBTQ academics