Howard Robert Swearer ’54

HOWIE SWEARER died, after a year-long battle with cancer on Oct. 19, 1991. In the words of Chancellor Charles Tillinghast of Brown Univ. in a memorial given there, Howie "was simply a very nice person in whom so many of us found a friend."

Howie was also a man of accomplishment. Born in Kansas, at Princeton he majored in political science, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa his junior year, was president of Quadrangle Club and chairman of the InterClub Council. After Princeton, he attended Harvard, earning both his master's and Ph.D. in political science and Soviet affairs. After Harvard, he served two years in the Army.

He then joined the faculty at U.C.L.A., where he taught political science, was director of the Russian and East European Center, and was a director of Peace Corp training. He then went to the Ford Foundation for three years. After Ford, he became president of Carleton College in Minnesota. In 1974, while at Carleton, Howie was chosen one of TIME magazine's "200 Faces For The Future."

Howie left Carleton in 1977 to become president of Brown Univ. Varian Gregorian, who followed him as president, reported that "Howie Swearer was one of Brown's greatest and most beloved presidents and led the college out of troubled times to an unprecedented level of national and international renown."

Howie is survived by his widow, Janet; his three sons, Randolph, Richard, and Nicholas; and two brothers, Donald '56 and William '51. Our hearts go out to them in the loss of this very fine man.

The Class of 1954