Liliane M. Stewart, president of the Macdonald Stewart Foundation that bought and restored Manoir Jacques Cartier in Saint-Malo, France, died last Saturday. She was also the president of the Stewart Museum and two Jacques Cartier historical societies.
The foundation was founded by Mrs. Stewart and her late husband, tobacco magnate David M. Stewart. After selling the Stewart tobacco business in the early 1970s, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart devoted their professional lives to philanthropy. The foundation has donated tens of millions of dollars to Montreal’s cultural, medical and educational institutions and institutions outside Quebec, such as the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
I met Mrs. Stewart in 1989 when I interviewed her for I video I was producing for a Grands Montréalais gala at which she was to be honoured. I remember her as a very meticulous lady who knew where every penny she owned was spent. According to her obituary in the Montreal Gazette, her staff called her Eagle Eye.
