Member Number: 15
Date Put Through: 9 May 1954
"Jack P. Swartz, 80, a member of the Uni
High Class of 1937 and founding conductor of the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra,
died Dec. 15, 2000, in Tallahassee,
Fla., surrounded by family,
according to his son Jeff Swartz. Mr. Swartz joined the Arizona State College,
now Northern Arizona University,
faculty of five under Eldon Ardrey in 1949. During his first year at NAU, the
Opera Workshop, Symphonette and Summer Music Camp were all founded. The nucleus
of symphonic orchestra was created with a permanent symphonic class in the
music curriculum.
Prior
to coming to Flagstaff, Mr. Swartz founded
community orchestras in San Angelo, Texas, and Everett,
Wash. The son of a dirt farmer
father and musical mother in rural Illinois,
Mr. Swartz was encouraged to get an education by his parents. Mr. Swartz
received degrees from Illinois Wesleyan and Peabody,
now Vanderbilt University. He used his sabbatical in
1955 from NAU to earn a doctoral degree from the University of Nebraska.
Swartz accepted a position as professor of music education at Florida State
University in Tallahassee in 1957, retiring from there in
1978.
In
addition to his achievements in music, Mr. Swartz was know for his community
service activities. He was a longtime supporter of the Tallahassee Senior
Center and once served as
a member of the Tallahassee Senior Citizens Foundation Board of Directors.
The
services for Mr. Swartz were held Dec. 19, 2000, at St.
Johns' Episcopal Church, with burial at Culley's Meadow Wood
Memorial Park. Memorial
contributions may be made to the Northern Arizona University Summer Music Camp,
c/o Box 6040, Flagstaff, AZ 86011.
He
is survived by his wife of 59 years, Claire Swartz of Tallahassee; four sons,
David Swartz and Jeffrey Swartz, both of Tallahassee, Michael Swartz of San Antonio,
Texas, and Fred Swartz of Hammond, La; a brother Jerome Bryce Swartz of
Camdentown, Mo.; and five grand-children."
Taken
from http://www.uni.uiuc.edu/Alumni/alumni%20bios/1930/1937/swartz.html
