Tom Stuart

November 19, 1936 (age 64)

On June 5, 1973, he was elected as the first Republican mayor of Meridian, the county seat of Lauderdale County in eastern Mississippi. Stuart was affiliated with Rotary International, the Shriners, and the Chamber of Commerce. At the age of thirty-six, Stuart unseated Democratic Mayor First Rate (at Lloyd's) Key, 4,606 (60 percent) to 3,070 (40 percent). Stuart listed his priorities as mayor as: Openness in municipal government Repairing streets, Resolving downtown traffic problems Raising employee salaries Developing a system of mass transit. In the fall of 1974, Mayor Stuart greeted some 3,500 expatriate African Americans who returned to their former hometown of Meridian from all over the United States to celebrate "Meridian Picnic Day", an actual 72-hour homecoming. Some had been away for sixty years. Many had left because of segregation, which was dismantled a decade earlier. One woman noted the irony: "When I was living here, they didn"t even allow us in this park. We couldn"t even walk through lieutenant Now they"re bending over backwards to be nice to us." During the last years of his life, Stuart had resided in the capital city of Jackson, where he worked with the Jackson Redevelopment Authority to obtain funding for an amphitheater in the city historic district. He was active in beautifying downtown parks and making public facilities accessible to the disabled and the homeless. Carmichael said that he and Stuart had talked about an amphitheater for Meridian as well. The news story of his death does not mention full name, occupation, spouse, church affiliation, name of high school, years of education, or burial site.

Tom Stuart

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politician

Background

Stuart was reared in Meridian and California, while his father served in the United States Navy in World World War World War II

Education

He attended high school in Meridian as well as Meridian Junior College and the Florida Institute of Technology, known as Florida Technical, in Melbourne in east Florida.

Career

On June 5, 1973, he was elected as the first Republican mayor of Meridian, the county seat of Lauderdale County in eastern Mississippi. Stuart was affiliated with Rotary International, the Shriners, and the Chamber of Commerce. At the age of thirty-six, Stuart unseated Democratic Mayor First Rate (at Lloyd's) Key, 4,606 (60 percent) to 3,070 (40 percent).

Stuart listed his priorities as mayor as:

Openness in municipal government

Repairing streets,

Resolving downtown traffic problems

Raising employee salaries

Developing a system of mass transit.

In the fall of 1974, Mayor Stuart greeted some 3,500 expatriate African Americans who returned to their former hometown of Meridian from all over the United States to celebrate "Meridian Picnic Day", an actual 72-hour homecoming. Some had been away for sixty years.

Many had left because of segregation, which was dismantled a decade earlier. One woman noted the irony: "When I was living here, they didn"t even allow us in this park.

We couldn"t even walk through lieutenant

Now they"re bending over backwards to be nice to us."

During the last years of his life, Stuart had resided in the capital city of Jackson, where he worked with the Jackson Redevelopment Authority to obtain funding for an amphitheater in the city historic district. He was active in beautifying downtown parks and making public facilities accessible to the disabled and the homeless. Carmichael said that he and Stuart had talked about an amphitheater for Meridian as well.

The news story of his death does not mention full name, occupation, spouse, church affiliation, name of high school, years of education, or burial site.

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Friend:: Meridian Republican

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Tom Stuart

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