Stewart remembered as smart, helpful

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BY MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star

Ryan Stewart was a smart, motivated young man, who decided to follow his sister from their central Nebraska home to Nebraska Wesleyan University.

“He was quietly intelligent,” said Lu Lansman, his high school guidance counselor.

“He was polite, independent and intent on learning, making himself better,” she said.

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Ryan Stewart

Ryan Stewart

Early Friday morning, the sophomore business administration major died after a blaze at his fraternity house that fire officials said began in a second-story room.

Friends identified the room as Stewart’s.

“He’d pretty much do anything you asked of him. He’d never hesitate to help,” said Grant Johnson, fellow frat member and current student-body president at Weslyan.

The sophomore business administration major graduated from Ord Junior-Senior High in 2005.

His older sister graduated in 1998 and later from Wesleyan, Lansman said.

In high school, Ryan took several classes that earned him college credit through Central Community College and possibly Wesleyan, she said.

He was involved in marching and symphonic band in high school.

He is the son of Mary Ann and Jim Stewart and has one sister, Jennifer.

School officials in Ord learned of Ryan’s death Friday morning, and counselors were on hand to talk with students, Lansman said.

Some of the older students knew him well, she said. And nearly all the teachers knew him. ]

“I would say it affected our staff as much as anything. We all knew him.”

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com