Stuart H. Yost, 79, educator

Stuart Henri Yost of Center City, an artist, educator and genealogist, died at Hahnemann University Hospital on Oct. 4, the day after his 79th birthday. He had never regained consciousness after choking at a dinner given in his honor several days earlier.

Mr. Yost, whose father was a Marine Corps colonel, was born in Parris Island, S.C., and lived in Shanghai, China, as a child. He graduated from Episcopal Academy, and earned a degree in fine arts from the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Arts, a predecessor of the University of the Arts. For two years he worked for fashion designers in Rome, Paris and New York City.

When he returned to Philadelphia, he earned a degree in art education from the Philadelphia Museum School.

For three years, Mr. Yost was an art teacher at Elkins Park Junior High School, before becoming a teacher in the Colonial School District in 1963. He taught painting, drawing and humanities, and was chairman of the fine arts department at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School when he retired in 1993.

He always advised students that the arts are a "hard mistress demanding absolute dedication," his life partner, John Miller, said.

Since his teens, Mr. Yost had a keen interest in his family history. Through research, he discovered he was a descendant of five Pilgrims and traced his ancestors back to the Middle Ages. Mr. Yost encouraged friends interested in studying their heritage to relish the horse thieves and scoundrels they might find along the way, Miller said. It was his conviction that everyone is everyone else's 22d cousin, Miller said.

Mr. Yost belonged to numerous organizations, including the Society of Mayflower Descendants, the Baronial Order of Magna Carta, the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, the St. Andrew's Society, and the Society of St. George. He was past vice president of the English Speaking Union, founder and former dean of the Chestnut Hill Chowder and Marching Society, former rector's warden at St. Clement's Church in Philadelphia, and a shareholder of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia.

In addition to his partner, Mr. Yost is survived by a niece and four nephews.

A memorial evensong will be celebrated at 4 p.m. Nov. 9 at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 1625 Locust St. Donations may be made to Manna, Box 30181, Philadelphia 19103.