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From friends of Dr. Stewart:
I will most remember her commitment and passion to women’s health, her courage in facing complex issues and politics and her ability to find humor under the most difficult of circumstances. We have lost a true leader in reproductive health and she will be greatly missed. In the coming months and years we can most honor her memory by rededicating ourselves to the causes that she championed.
Linda Alexander, PhD, FAAN
VP, Women’s Health
Digene Corporation
Submitted on:
Mon 04/17/06 6:57 PM |
I first met Felicia way back in 1975, when, recently out of public health school, I went to work for James Bowman Associates (JBA). Felicia had just had her first baby, and she served on the board of JBA...I remember her sense of humor, her competence, her love and dedication for her family, her ability to juggle everything, and wow, was I impressed. She even brought baby Katherine to meetings and nursed her!!!! She became a real role model to me, which continued throughout my career, even when our paths stopped crossing as frequently as they once did.
The last time I saw Felicia was at a meeting at the Hewlett Foundation, and she was upbeat, participating in an experimental regimen for her lung cancer. She was working on a book I think and we had a wonderful exchange.
I am so very sad for this loss to our community. We have lost a truly great human being.
Donna P. Hall
Palo Alto, CA
submitted on: Mon 04/17/06 6:30 PM |
I'll always remember the first time I met Felicia. It was in October 1998 at ARHP's 35 Anniversary Gala. I was deeply impressed by this super intelligent, charismatic woman who gave a moving and passionate talk about current challenges in the field of reproductive health and what ARHP's role needed to be. I met her over lunch and immediately felt a connection with her. Although she had a certain aura and stood out in a crowd, she had a great ability to listen to and connect with others and make them feel heard. Felicia was a very compassionate person, and I am very thankful for the love, support, and encouragement that she gave to Wayne and I. I am really going to miss her, including the great conversations and her many insights. The reproductive health field and ARHP have lost a true leader. I and many others have lost a deeply caring friend. My deepest condolences to Kathryn and Mathew, who showed her such great love and support during the twilight of her life.
Andrew Velthaus
(Wayne Shields’ partner)
Washington, DC
submitted on: Mon 4/17/2006 6:56 PM |
I am so saddened by the news of Felicia Stewart’s death—one of ARHP’s most dynamic and insightful leaders. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with such an amazing woman and will always remember the dedication she had to improving the lives of women throughout the world. I am grateful for the opportunities I had to work with her and for everything she taught me.
Amy Swann
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals
submitted on: Mon 4/17/2006 5:03 PM |
The reproductive health community has just lost Felicia Stewart, whose career was devoted to better health for women. The end of her medical internship in Boston coincided with the legalization of abortion in New York, so as a young physician she went to work at one of the nation's first clinics where she served women from all over the country. She later sought training in obstetrics and gynecology at UCSF where she met her husband and practice partner. She and Gary Stewart moved to Sacramento to establish one of the most innovative and collaborative women's health practices in the country. Together they provided the full range of care from abortion to IVF, conducted family planning research, and were, of course, social and political activists.
After two decades of providing exemplary care to the women and families of Sacramento, they left private practice, Gary for international work and Felicia for Washington, DC, for government service in the Clinton Administration where she restored respectability to the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs (DASPA). She campaigned tirelessly, the Felicia Stewart way, for Title X, emergency contraception (EC), and safe motherhood. A real Californian, educated in Los Angeles and Berkeley before she went to Harvard Medical School, Felicia left DC for her second return home, this time to the Kaiser Family Foundation, where she led reproductive health efforts.
UCSF was Felicia's final professional home: academic medicine had never before attracted Felicia, but she thought our Center was a place where she could continue to make a difference for women and the next generation of practitioners and advocates. With charisma, ideas, and determination she accomplished both through her contributions to Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), California’s Family PACT program, EC, the Access through Primary Care Initiative (APC), and many other Center endeavors. I'll remember her in her green scrubs at SFGH, doing abortions for poor women, and I'll miss her on the two hour rides to Family PACT in Sacramento when we shared our admiration for, as Felicia put it, "the wonderful young people we're privileged to work with."
Most I'll miss her ironical sense of humor about human foibles, including her own, which even a long illness couldn't suppress. Please join me in mourning our loss of doctor, DASPA, professor, and life-long crusader for women, Felicia Stewart. I extend our special condolences to Katherine and Mathew, who cared compassionately for their mother through a difficult time.
Philip Darney, MD, MSc
UCSF
submitted on: Mon 4/17/2006 4:00 PM |
Felicia has been a dear friend and special colleague since September of 1971. I met Felicia through her husband, Gary. I was able to say a few words about Felicia in Boston a month ago. I spoke to Scharon Schnare, Michael Policar, and Anita Nelson about what I might say the night before at dinner.
There were some tears and some laughter. I said that Felicia was so amazing in the way she was creative and thought outside the box. And one of my companions suggested that she was never inside the box. A perfect example is Felicia’s solution to ending the war in Iraq: Send all the troops home immediately. Use all the money now being spent to send food, doctors, nurses, medicines, teachers, engineers, and agricultural experts to make life better for the people. Twenty-five years from now we may be saying that our country should have listened to a wise woman named Felicia Hance Stewart.
Robert A. Hatcher MD, MPH
Emory University School of Medicine
Atlanta, GA
submitted on: Mon 4/17/2006 3:21 PM |
On behalf of the Endometriosis Association, we express our sincere sympathies to you and the ARHP staff upon hearing Dr. Stewart's death. Dr. Stewart did so much to improve the field of reproductive medicine, and initiate improvements for women's healthcare. We will sincerely miss her!
On behalf of Mary Lou Ballweg, Dori Knoff and the Endometriosis Association staff
submitted on: Monday, April 17, 2006 3:07 PM |
Felicia was a major figure in my life and I’ll miss her terribly. She was both a personal and professional mentor, helping me understand the complexities of the field of reproductive health and how to visualize long-term change for the better. She was a true visionary who cared deeply about people. She took a heartfelt interest in the well-being of individuals in her life—and extended this generosity to the many women and men whose lives could be improved through better health care. She did not suffer fools gladly, and her boisterous laughter at the follies of “short-sighted people” was infectious. I loved her deeply and, although she will be missed, I have confidence her strong and impassioned legacy will continue through her network of friends, colleagues, and loved ones.
Wayne C. Shields
President and CEO
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals
submitted on: Mon 4/17/2006 12:56 PM |
As a Nurse Practitioner in women's health care, I worked with Felicia in L.A. a million years ago mostly as a consultant to LARF (currently has new name..) I am now bordering seventy glorious years. She was a beacon in women's health, a compassionate and progressive thinker and so much fun. She impacted my life in so many positive ways.
Sincerely and lovingly,
Renee Potik, RNC NP (Retired)
submitted on: Mon 4/17/2006 12:22 PM
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Felicia was a great leader in our field and to me she will always remain a model for "polite activism" - her grace, intelligence, and wit kept pace with her commitment to the cause of women's right to choose, and she got more accomplished than others because of it.
Katherine D. LaGuardia, MD, MPH, FACOG
submitted on: Mon 4/17/2006 12:21 PM |
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