Rochester civil rights activist and faith leader Rev. Lewis Stewart has died, the United Christian Leadership Ministry announced Saturday. He was 77.

Stewart co-founded the UCLM in 2013 and served as the organization’s president from 2013 to 2022. He then acted as president emeritus until his death.

Stewart hosted countless news conferences and events over the years and spent six decades fighting for social justice, police oversight and equality.

As a young Black teen growing up in the 1960s, he attended the March on Washington in 1963 and participated in protests and rallies calling for racial equity.

“The activism has been my whole life," Stewart told Spectrum News 1’s Wendy Wright last year after it was announced he was retiring. “In the bottom final analysis, we share this tiny planet. We've all got to get along here and work together. If we don't, then we're going to participate in a chaotic destruction of this country that we don't want to see.”

According to the UCLM, Stewart, who was born in Newburgh in 1946, graduated from Brockport with a degree in political science. He then earned a master of divinity degree from Colgate Rochester Divinity School/Bexley Hall/Crozer Theological Seminary and also studied at Syracuse University School of Social Work. He later served as a chaplain at the New York State Department of Corrections at Groveland Correctional and Five Points Correctional Facilities.

"I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Reverend Lewis W. Stewart Jr. Throughout his more than 40 years of ministry, community, and civil rights leadership, he believed strongly in the prophetic calling for social justice," Rochester Mayor Malik Evans said in a statement. "His commitment to the eradication of social, economic, and racial inequities has made an everlasting impact. Rev. Stewart consistently expressed a strong ethical and spiritual commitment to strengthen the voices of the Black community and firmly stood up against injustices. The City of Rochester will be forever grateful for his exemplary actions and ministry and send our condolences to his family and the many lives he touched."

Calling hours for Rev. Stewart will be held Saturday, Nov. 4, from 9 a.m. – noon at the Baber AME Church on Meigs Street in Rochester. Services will be held immediately after, also at the Baber AME Church, starting at noon.