Stewart S. Saxton, a Baltimore artist who co-owned a salon in North Baltimore with his wife, died Jan. 11 at Northwest Hospital of pneumonia. He was 81.
The son of Joseph Eugene Shanahan Sr., a city police officer, and Doris Shanahan, a homemaker, he was born Stewart Stars Shanahan in Baltimore, and legally changed his name in 1967 to Stewart Stars Saxton.
Mr. Saxton was raised on Calverton Heights Avenue in West Baltimore. He attended city public schools and later earned his General Education Development certificate while serving with the Marine Corps in the Mediterranean as a baker and cook from 1951 until 1954, when he was discharged with the rank of corporal.
A Catonsville resident for more than 40 years, Mr. Saxton was still working as an artist at his death.
"Stewart was an artist of many mediums, wood, metal, and precious gems," said his sister, Patricia Ann Shanahan of Cotati, Calif.
"He created usable art such as furniture, lamps, wall hangings, and many of his office creations are still in many local businesses," said Ms. Shanahan.
In 1970, he married the former Patricia Marie Barrise, a Lord & Taylor fashion buyer who was known as Pattea, in an open-air wedding ceremony in Wyman Park.
After Ms. Saxton earned her cosmetologist's license in 1984, the couple opened Stars Salon in the Lake Falls Village in North Baltimore, operating it until 1991, when they sold the business.
Ms. Saxton died in 2003.
Plans for Mr. Saxton's ashes to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in the spring are incomplete.
In addition to his sister, Mr. Saxton is survived by a son, Shane Shanahan of Wrightwood, Calif.; two daughters, Donna Forest Hamilton of Plymouth, Mich., and Diane Shanahan of Hayward, Calif.; a brother, Joseph Eugene Shanahan of Glen Burnie; three grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.