[1] Daniel Stewart was born in East Hartford, Connecticut, and was raised in Pawtucket and Cumberland, Rhode Island.
Graduating high school in June 1980 at age 17, he signed paperwork and entered military service with the United States Air Force.
He entered politics in the summer of 1993 and won election that year to serve as a city councilor for Ward 6 in Plattsburgh from 1994 to 2000, with a brief term as mayor pro tem from 1996-1998.
[3] Mayor Stewart was appointed in 2006 as Chairman and Commissioner of the New York State Commission of Correction by then-Governor George E. Pataki.
The board serves the surviving families of law enforcement officers and firefighters who are lost in the line of duty.