F. Neel Stewart, who worked for 20 years at the Sparrows Point shipyard of Bethlehem Steel Corp., died of heart failure Thursday at Eastpoint Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. He was 78 and a longtime Armistead Gardens resident.

Mr. Stewart was born in Baltimore and raised in Northwood and Ruxton. A City College graduate, he served with the Army Air Forces in the Pacific during World War II and attained the rank of sergeant.

Returning after the war, he worked in the shipping department of the May Co. until going to work at Sparrows Point in 1966. He retired as a senior expediter in 1986. He was later found to have asbestosis.

Mr. Stewart was a member of the Rossville Veterans of Foreign Wars post, served on the board of Armistead Homes Corp. and volunteered with the Garden Gazette community newspaper. He had also volunteered as a youth baseball coach with the Armistead Athletic Association and Carol F. Cook Recreation Center.

He was an active communicant of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Church, where he taught religious classes.

Graveside services will be held at 1 p.m. today at Emory Cemetery, Route 534 at Emory Church Road in Street.

Mr. Stewart is survived by his wife of 35 years, the former Patricia K. Hughes; three daughters, Cynthia L. Nolan and Kathy M. Nolan, both of Pompano Beach, Fla., and Tammy Iannantuono of Dundalk; two stepsons, Robert Janney of Pennsylvania and Mark Janney of Rosedale; a stepdaughter, Michelle McDonald of Hampden; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.