Mark C. Stewart was born 20 miles west of Oberlin in Norwalk, Ohio.  He grew up in small Ohio towns, moving whenever his minister father was assigned a new Methodist church.  After graduating from Granville High School, he majored in history at Oberlin and earned his J.D. at the University of Minnesota Law School.

He married in Minnesota and provided legal counsel for a soybean processing cooperative.  Upon his return to Ohio, he became general counsel for Ohio Grain (later Landmark).  Mark joined a Toledo law firm in 1992 and continued his work with cooperatives and agribusiness.

According to an obituary, “He loved gardening, spending time in Eagle Harbor (MI), music, intellectual debate, cooking, canoeing in the Boundary Waters, backpacking on Isle Royal, reading non-fiction, Sunday school, and especially working with farmers. His optimistic outlook, his love for his family, and his devotion to his clients helped him live with multiple myeloma for eleven years” before dying in hospice on March 11, 2011.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/toledoblade/obituary.aspx?n=mark-c-stewart&pid=149215855