Willie Stewart was the 2019 recipient of the Greater Tacoma Peace Prize. He earned a master’s degree in education from PLU and is also a retired Army Reserve colonel. He spent 36 years working in Tacoma schools as a teacher and administrator and, later, as an elected school board member. When he was named to lead Lincoln High School in 1970, he became the Tacoma School District’s first African American principal. He has been active in a long list of Tacoma-area organizations that support local youth and education, as well as other civic causes.