George Craig Stewart

George Craig Stewart (August 18, 1879 - May 2, 1940) was the seventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago from 1930 to 1940. (The sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Chicago, Sheldon Munson Griswold (1861-1930), served for only a few months in 1930.)

Stewart was born on August 18, 1879 in Saginaw, Michigan, the son of George Forbes Stewart (1842-1912) and Catherine Craig (1847-1880). He grew up as a Presbyterian but was later ordained as a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. After joining the Episcopal Church, he studied at Northwestern University and graduated in 1902. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1903 by Charles P. Anderson, Bishop of Chicago.

He served as in St Elizabeth's Church in Glencoe, Illinois from 1903 till 1904 when he transferred to St Luke's Church in Evanston, Illinois. During his time at St Luke's the parish managed to grow into the largest parish in the diocese.

On May 13, 1930 Stewart was elected Coadjutor Bishop of Chicago on the first ballot during a special convention held in St James' Cathedral in Chicago. He was consecrated bishop on June 18, 1930 in St Luke's Church, where he had served as rector since 1904. Presiding Bishop James De Wolf Perry was the consecrator. He succeeded as diocesan bishop in November of the same year after the death of Bishop Sheldon Munson Griswold. He remained Bishop of Chicago for ten years till his death on May 2, 1940.

Stewart married Mary Gertrude Clyde in 1902 and together had three children, two sons and a daughter. Their daughter, Katharine Craig Stewart, died at the age of fifteen as a result of the Spanish influenza on October 22, 1918.