Adopted as an infant in Norway and brought home to Tulsa, Stuart was educated in Tulsa, and at the Culver Military Academy, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Tulsa. As chairman of the board and chief executive officer of First Stuart Corporation, Stuart is continuing in the family business. He also is the managing partner of Jon R. Stuart Interests, L.L.C., its primary focus on energy, and is a trustee for the Stuart Family Foundation.

Appointed by His Royal Highness King Harald VI of Norway, Stuart serves as the Royal Norwegian Consul for Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. He served on the City of Tulsa-Rogers County Port Authority Board for more than 25 years, including five years as chairman. The Port of Catoosa’s Maritime Park is named for him. He has served on the Gilcrease Museum National Advisory Board and the Committee of 100—Tulsa, as a trustee for Boston Avenue United Methodist Church and Philbrook Museum of Art, as well as the Falcon Foundation in Colorado Springs, and served two terms on the University of Oklahoma’s Board of Regents.

He and his wife, DeeDee, continue to make their home in Tulsa. Stuart is a fourth-generation inductee, following his great-grandfather Charles B. Stuart, inducted in 1933, his grandfather W. G. Skelly, inducted in 1939, and his father, Harold C. Stuart, inducted in 1983.