Stewart M. Brooks, an alumnus of the Sidney High School Class of 1942, led an extraordinary life, which spanned 90 years. He excelled in many areas as a student, educator, member of the US Army, community servant, historian, and naturalist. While in high school he received a perfect score on his science Regents exam, a feat so rare at the time that someone from Albany came down to verify it. He won the Bausch and Lomb science achievement award and was awarded a scholarship to Hamilton College. He attended school there for a short time before enlisting in the US Army, where he served during World War II, working on the development of radar, and participating in the D- Day invasion of Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge and the liberation of Dachau.
After the war Stewart obtained a B.S. degree from the Albany College of Pharmacy and an M.S. from the Philadelphia College of Science and Pharmacology. He taught medical sciences for thirty-five years to nursing students at Lasell College, Boston City Hospital and Newton Wellesley Hospital. A former nursing student of his wrote, "Mr. Brooks had a talent for making the difficult concepts of chemistry, biology, pathology and general sciences easier to understand. Now more than 30 years later, I can still recall some of his lectures and how he entertained the entire class and had us all laughing. He was a true artist in his field and he loved his profession."
During his teaching years Stewart distinguished himself as an author of over 50 books including medical texts. In 1962 he published Integrated Basic Science, at the time the only text available to the nursing profession offering an integrated presentation of all of the sciences. With his wife Natalie, Stewart published revised editions of Turner's Personal and Community Health, The Review of Nursing, Essentials for the State Boards and the Nurse's Drug Reference. The wide-ranging subject matter of his books included Civil War Medicine and Our Murdered Presidents. Several of his books have been translated into Spanish, Japanese, German and Hindi.
Stewart and his wife Natalie returned to the Sidney area in the early 1980's. During his "retirement" Stewart was active in the Historical Society, and pursued his interest in paleontology, natural history, astronomy, medicine, and a love of language. He furthered his expertise on the Civil War, in which both his grandfather, Lysander, and great grandfather, Isaac, had served. His son Marshall recalls him once saying, "Too many hobbies". Stewart's life was indeed filled with hobbies; hobbies that turned into a life-time of sharing of his time and talents with those lucky enough to know him.