Our 27th Lucas County Prosecutor was born in Toledo in 1876, the son of John B. Stuart who became Lucas County Sheriff when his son was four years old. Stuart was educated in its public schools having attended Sherman School and Toledo High School. There is no record of his college/law school attendance. He read the law with former Lucas County Prosecutor J. Kent Hamilton, prior to being admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1900, probably one of the last of our Prosecutors to be so "educated."

Stuart had a full military background, having served in the Ohio national Guard since 1894, when he joined at the age of 18 years. He was cited for bravery in two wars, being a veteran of both he Spanish-American War and World War I, where he served in France. He is the first prosecutor to be listed as being a member of the Toledo Bar Association. He was First Assistant prosecuting Attorney from 1905-1912 under Prosecutors Ulery, Wachenheimer and Webster. He ten went off to fight in the First World War, from which he returned a Captain.

In 1920, Stuart was elected Lucas County Prosecutor, having run against his good friend and colleague, the incumbent Allen Seney. He was re-elected twice, serving from 1921-1926. Subsequently, he was elected to the Lucas County Common Pleas bench, to which he was re-elected in 1932.

As a judge, Stuart proved to be quite a controversial character. In 1934, his courtroom was the "storm center during the Electric Auto-Lite Strike... It was Judge Stuart who issued the controversial injunction to curb picketing at the plant..." (Blade, 12/20/47).

In 1935, Judge Stuart and then County prosecutor Frazier Reams got into a major altercation. It seems that Stuart wanted to dismiss a grand jury which had brought indictments against two brothers of then incumbent-Mayor Thatcher for certain "irregularities" regarding poor relief and closed banks.

After Stuart issued orders to impanel a new grand jury over the vehement protests of Prosecutor Reams, Reams filed an Affidavit of Prejudice against Stuart, which amounted to an automatic disqualification from handling all criminal cases until a hearing could be held, either in Toledo or in Columbus, depending on the number of witnesses who would be called to testify. (Blade 4/6/35).

Reams protested that the last time Judge Stuart presided in criminal court, he hand-picked the grand jury from a vest pocket memo instead of from the "jury wheel."

Judge Stuart lost his re-election bid in 1938 due to his tough stand during the Auto-Lite strike. Labor unions opposed him because he had ruled that under the National Recovery Act, a closed shop was illegal. However, in 1942, he was elected to the Court of Appeals, a position which he held until his death. He was Presiding Judge at the time of his death.