Stuart Marshall Pearman

Stuart was a gentleman, a devoted husband and a self-made man of unflagging generosity, humility, grit and determination. He had high standards and a mischievous sense of humor.

He was born in Richmond, VA. Confined to the back yard at age 6 as a punishment, he piled up boxes to assemble a staircase and escape. His sweet natured Mom, Hilda, liked to tell that story as early evidence of his bright mind. At age 12, to help support his family, he worked as a bicycle delivery boy for Lafayette Pharmacy and in the Dr. Pepper bottling plant. He also worked as a stableboy at Deep Run Hunt Club so he could ride horses competitively. Small of stature growing up, his boyhood friends the Kohler twins, called him "Pee Wee".

He attended Thomas Jefferson High School and enrolled in the University of Virginia. There he played football and met his lifelong friend, Ben Matthews. We know Ben and Stuart ran a motorcycle up a tree, but not the rest of the story.

Stuart met the love of his life, Betty Ruth Wysor, at Virginia Beach. He began courting her, a young man with no assets and seemingly no prospects. Betty was sent to junior college out of state to gain secretarial skills - so she could be self-supporting - and told she could not marry before age 21. She graduated. Three weeks after her 21st birthday, Betty and Stuart married. In 2021 they celebrated their 71st anniversary. His devotion and care for her, all that time, was extraordinary. They traveled the world visiting England, Europe, Africa, China, India, South America and Asia.

Stuart couldn't afford to continue college. He took a job with Esso, sweeping out offices at night. He was promoted to pumping gas during the day, then to mail clerk, then to office clerk for which he had to move to Norfolk. This was one of dozens of moves that he made, and Betty endured, for career advancement.

Stuart learned that truck drivers made good money; he became an Esso truck driver, then an Esso salesman. He retired from Exxon as Manager of Marketing with 5,000 US marketing employees reporting to him. He never missed a day of work.

He spearheaded the name change from Esso to Exxon, a secret project of which only three people below the Board of Directors were aware. Each Monday morning he took the company plane to New York to present to the Board. Each Sunday night he would dream he dropped all his slides on the floor in the boardroom and by the time he gathered them the room was deserted.

He served on the Boards of Zale-Lipshy and UT Southwestern Hospitals, QuikTrip and Wawa. He expected excellence. Once when someone handed him a report, he reached for it with one hand and for his red pen with the other. The person said, "Just once... I wish you'd read it first". His colleague, friend and physician, Dr. Bruce Mickey, said, "As a leader, he was gruff but usually smiling, even when he was chastising... [but] he seemed to forgive everyone with whom he had a disagreement".

When he finally could afford his first house, his Mom traveled by bus to visit. He picked her up at the bus station. Instead of taking her to his house, he drove to a ramshackle house in a rundown neighborhood and proudly proclaimed, "This is it!" Without pause she exclaimed, "That's the prettiest tree I ever saw!"

Stuart is survived by his children, Stuart Jr., Liz Pearman (his daughter-in-law), Bill;and his grandchildren, Christopher and Ryan. He was predeceased by his wife Betty and his siblings, Charles, Louise and Betty.

Graveside service will be held Wednesday, September 28, at 10:30am at Hillcrest Memorial Park, 7405 W. NW Highway, Dallas, TX, 75225.