Robert Douglas Stuart Jr.

By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos

Robert Douglas Stuart Jr. attended the Los Alamos Ranch School in 1923-1924. After leaving here, he was a member of the 1937 Class of Princeton University. From there, he went to Yale University Law School, but World War II was on the horizon.

At Princeton, Robert studied politics and then went on to law school at Yale where he joined classmates in founding the America First Committee. Along with him in the effort were future U.S. President Gerald Ford, future Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, and future Yale President Kingman Brewster.

The movement they started became known as America First and had an estimated 800,000 members who hoped to keep the United States out of a European war. However, with the attack on Pearl Harbor, all four young men enlisted in the military.

When the war ended, Robert was discharged from the Army as a major and returned to Yale for his law degree. He then went to work at Quaker Oats, a company co-founded by his grandfather and managed by his father and uncle. Robert ultimately became the company’s chief executive and took it to international status.

In 1984, Robert was named ambassador to Norway by President Ronald Reagan. His term came at a time during the Cold War when Norway’s strategic location was important to the United States and NATO.

In the 1990s, Presidents Bush and Clinton placed him on the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission. Robert also served as a trustee of Princeton and a director of United Airlines, Burlington Northern Railroad, First Bank of Chicago, Deere and Company, and Molson Companies, Ltd., of Canada.

In addition, he made time to create a family foundation to support civic education, campaign finance reform, and national security.

Robert died in 2014 at age 98. When his memoirs were published privately, he titled them “Making a Difference”. No one reading his list of accomplishments could doubt “that he did just that”.