Stewart W. Roach
Obituary
Stewart W. ROACH (1920-2023), B.A.Sc. (U.B.C., 1943). Our beloved father, Stewart, passed away quietly in his sleep on July 19th at 103 years of age, in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. He is survived by his spouse Dorothy (née Wylie) of 79 bountiful years happily married; his children David (Carol, dec.), Lynda (Dave), Jonathan (Kimberly), Brian (Marjorie), and Julie (Brian); his grandchildren Lianne (Kyle), Heather (Jonathan), Kristine (Charles), Matthew (Shaelyn), Emmalee, Stewart (Santiago), Megan (Brendan), and Austin (Heather); his great grandchildren Rylan, Jacob, Sean, and Nathan; his nephew Wm. J. Roach, M.D.; his nieces Anne C.M.M. White (née Mifsud), Elizabeth (John) Jenkins (née Roach), and Catherine Fuller (née Roach); his grand nephews Andrew, Joshua, and Zacharia; his grand nieces Doree, Toby, and Gabriella; his great grand nephews Declan, and Dane; his great grand niece Tara; and, his sister-in-law Audrey D. Stowell (née Wylie) and niece-in-law P. Leslie D. Stowell. He was predeceased by his parents William John Roach (b. London, U.K.) and Annie B. Roach (née Stewart) (b. Fort Qu’Appelle, Assiniboia Dist., N.W.T.), both of Vancouver, B.C., sister Doree Mifsud (née Roach) (b. Regina, SK) and brother-in-law Austin V. Mifsud (b. Vancouver, BC), both of Calif., brother Mark Roach, M.D. (b. Regina, SK) and sister-in-law Catherine Roach (née Leaman) both of Victoria, B.C.
Stewart graduated from the Univ. of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Mechanical Engineering) in April 1943, and volunteered that same month for service with the Canadian non-permanent active militia. He married his sweetheart, Dorothy, in October 1943, in Vancouver, B.C. and after a honeymoon in Niagara, Ont., he was mobilized as 2nd Lieutenant, Ordnance Mechanical Engineer officer, Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps (Engineers) (RCOC(E), later RCEME), departing from Halifax, NS, for England to join the 1st Canadian Army, 2nd Division preparing for D-Day. He landed in Normandy on 7 July 1943, with the 4th Field Regt., serving with 19 Light Aid Detachment (19 LAD) supporting 4th Field Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA) and 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade (4 C.I.B. W/S) until V-E Day, May 1945.
Following his demobilization in N. Germany and his return to Vancouver, B.C., in 1946, Stewart joined the Fisheries Research Board of Canada (Vancouver) where he served as a research scientist, and later as Chief of the Processing Technology Division, in the development of engineered systems for the preservation of fish catches at sea, the development of fish handling systems for the unloading of fish catches (salmon, herring, and codfish) from vessels to docks and from fishing boats to fish tenders and fish packers, and the development of processing techniques for wild-caught salmon and herring in canneries on the west coast of British Columbia. During this period, Stewart was retained as consultant to the UNDP/FAO Fisheries Division for nine fisheries development projects: Lake Victoria (Jinja, Uganda, 1969), Yugoslavia (1969), Mexico (1970), Central America (1971), Indonesia (1972), Chile (1975), India (1978), Uruguay (1981), Brazil (1981). He also served as a consultant for the International Development Research Centre (Canada) in Guyana (1976-77), and, for CIDA, in Peru (1974-76).
Stewart departed the Fisheries Research Board in late 1979 to join the ship-building and fishing machinery design and construction company MARCO in Seattle, WA, where he led the development of MARCO’s “FoamFlo® Fishpump” transfer system, along with custom-designed refrigerated seawater systems (‘RSW’) and air-agitated ice-chilled seawater systems (‘CSW’) for the Alaska fishing fleets for six years.
Stewart was the inventor or co-inventor of three Canadian patented inventions and two U.S. patented inventions, and authored or co-authored more than 50 published papers & pamphlets on topics of ranging from ocean-caught fish processing, fishing tender vessel fish-handling systems (“fish transfer pumps”), and practical design standards for refrigerated seawater (RSW) and chilled seawater (CSW) fish catch preservation systems for fishing vessels fish packers while at sea that extended the time the fishing vessels could spend on the fishing grounds while maintaining and improving the quality of the catch delivered to shore plants.
In his youth, Stewart was active in team sports, playing baseball, basketball, soccer, rugby, and tennis in Vancouver, and junior and semi-pro league baseball in B.C. and California. While a student in engineering at the Univ. of British Columbia, he played on the university’s baseball, basketball and soccer teams, earning his “Big Block” UBC sweater in recognition of his contribution to team sports at the university.
From 1959 to 1969, Stewart was active in coaching juvenile soccer and Little League baseball in West Vancouver, B.C., where he established three juvenile soccer teams (“Falcons”—‘Pee-Wee’ Division, and “Spuraway”—6th Division B.C. Provincial co-champions, and champions of the North Shore League for several years running) and two Little League baseball teams (Sparling “Eagles”). During this period, he served on the executive committee of the West Vancouver Soccer Association for three years as the “players’ agent” responsible for “assigning players to teams and for ensuring that every boy who wants to play soccer is placed on a team.” “Stu Roach, coach of West Vancouver’s champion ‘Spuraways’ is in his fifth year of soccer here. He started with Pee-Wee ‘Falcons’ and along with Harold Tupper coaches Pee-Wee ‘Spuraways’ as well as his Fourth Division team with Tom Milstead as his assistant. Stu gained a lot of his coaching knowledge playing for B.C. ‘All-Stars’ and the U.B.C. team.” – B. DeRidder, Many volunteers man soccer ‘machine’ to keep 36 juvenile teams on the field, Lions Gate Times, West Vancouver, B.C., Thurs. Nov. 26, 1964.
For his service in N. Europe with the 1st Canadian Army, from 1943-1945, he was awarded the 1939-1945 Star, the Cdn. Vol. Service Medal (CVSM), the Defence Medal, the France and Germany Star, and the War Medal.
Stewart was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity at the Univ. of British Columbia from 1939 to 1943.
The family wishes to send a special thank you to the doctors and staff at Swedish Hospital Ballard Campus and Swedish Hospital Issaquah Campus, and the staff at Magnolia Home Care, Inc. for their care and compassion during their father’s final days.
