Jul 25, 2015 3 min read

Larry Maggi had not seen James Robert “Bob” Stewart, a longtime friend, fellow Claysville native and his former state police training officer, for years when he ran into him Thursday night at a South Strabane Township ice cream shop.

Less than 24 hours later, his friend would be killed in a two-vehicle crash in Washington.

Stewart, 68, of Sara Drive, was pronounced dead at Washington Hospital less than 25 minutes after the crash at Jefferson Avenue and West Beau Street. Stewart was driving east on Beau and crossing the intersection when his SUV was struck on the passenger side by a pickup truck going north on Jefferson. The truck’s driver, Tammy Smith, 53, of 46 Romney Road, Wheeling, W.Va., was not injured.

Maggi, chairman of the Washington County Board of Commissioners, said Stewart was his training officer when he joined the state police and was assigned to Troop B in Washington after graduating from the state police academy in July 1973. Maggi said Stewart was a wonderful man and trooper.

“I rode with him for 90 days when I got out of the academy,” Maggi said. “He had been on the job for three years.”

“He grew up in Claysville, too, so I’ve known him practically my whole life,” he added. “I was in the Marines when my mother sent me a newspaper clipping when he graduated from the academy. That was one reason I went to the state police.”

Stewart liked working the midnight shift, because there was usually more going on and he wanted to be kept busy, Maggi recalled.

“He was a tough by-the-book trooper,” Maggi said. “He was well-respected on the job. He had a good rapport and good record.”

Maggi was with his daughter and grandchildren when he ran into Stewart at the ice cream shop.

“I hadn’t seen him for a long time,” Maggi said. “We sat there, ate ice cream and my family got to meet the guy who trained me in the state police. He played with my grandchildren. He was very nice and engaging with them.”

Maggi happened to be with Washington County Coroner Tim Warco Friday when Warco told him about his friend’s death.

“It really hit me,” Maggi said. “I was really saddened and so was my family.”

“It is ironic how some things happen,” he added. “It shows how fragile life can be.”

He added his former partner liked to keep busy and was working as a delivery driver for Medicine Shoppe at the time of the accident.

“He was always working,” Maggi said.

Maggi said Stewart spent more than a decade at the Washington barracks. Stewart retired in the mid 1990s while assigned to Troop J in Lancaster. Stewart had a bed and breakfast in the Lancaster area as well as a general store.

Washington police Chief Chris Luppino echoed Maggi’s sentiments about Stewart. Luppino’s father, retired Trooper Scott Luppino, also worked with him.

“He was one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. I never heard anyone say they didn’t like him,” the chief said. “He was loved by everyone in the department.”

“He was an old school sort of trooper,” Luppino said. “He was the type of officer you wanted the younger ones to emulate.”

Luppino said the investigation into the crash is continuing. There has been no decision as to whether Smith faces any charges.

Stewart is the 10th person to die on Washington County roads this year.