Tom Swartz

life story

Generosity was his middle name

Thomas Richard Swartz died at home on July 19, 2022, surrounded by those he loved the most…his five daughters, Mary, Karen, Jennifer, Anne and Rebecca and his spouse, Jeanne.

memorial service

Funeral Mass

August 12, 2022

St Ann Catholic Church 421 N Broadway St, Cassopolis, MI 49031, USA

In Tom’s “potluck” tradition, the Swartz family welcomes tomatoes and deviled eggs (or anything else you’d like to bring) at the lunch to follow Mass at Blackberry Farm 21124 Shore Acres Road Cassopolis 49031.

A Story of the Life of Tom Swartz

Tom was born in Philadelphia on August 31, 1937, to Elizabeth Tubbs Thomas and Henry Swartz. He was the youngest of their four children, Horace Swartz (MaryPat), Virginia Wells (Jack) and Ruth Sipler (Blaine). The latter survives him. The family moved to Warrington, PA where “Tommy Wicky Warts,” as he called himself at the time, attended first grade in a two-room schoolhouse before going to Doylestown Grade School and Central Bucks High School (CBHS). Tom conquered both dyslexia and a speech impediment on his own and, in high school, he was an Eagle Scout, a class officer, a marvelous dancer, and a ladies’ man.

Tom excelled in both swimming and diving. He attended La Salle University (‘60 B.S.) on an athletic scholarship and for many years his relay team held the Midwest record. Tom also coached these skills at the Fanny Chapman Pool in Doylestown PA, where he met his wife Jeanne Jourdan and convinced her to go to college instead of the convent so that they could continue to date. Alas, his love of pools faded with time and he attributed his decision to pursue a teaching career at the university level rather than being a high school swim coach due in equal parts to the example of Economics Professor Joseph Flubacker and his own growing distaste for the smell of chlorine.

After college, Tom earned a master’s degree from Ohio University (‘62) and a PhD from Indiana University (‘65), both in economics. His entire post-secondary education cost $25 (a whopping $840 in today’s dollars).

In the Fall of 1965, Tom embarked on a 45 year career teaching economics at the University of Notre Dame du Lac. Known as T.R. to his students, Tom proudly related he had taught 10% of Notre Dame’s living alumni at the time of his retirement. He believed that co-education was the best decision ND ever made; that the 70’s were the most exciting time to teach there; and that his friend John Gerber, C.S.C. was the best person he ever met. Thanks to his friends, Fathers Bartell, Burrell, and Gerber, Tom’s family attended Mass on campus with the Council for the International Lay Apostolate (CILA) students in Morrissey Hall, Grace Hall and at home (yes, there were a lot of tambourines!). In addition, the family joined Holy Cross Parish in South Bend, where four of his five daughters attended grade school.

While at Notre Dame, the doors of Tom’s office and his home were always open to students where he often used food to bring people together. He taught introductory classes as large as 500 and interdisciplinary seminars as intimate as 10 and earned ND’s highest honor for teaching, the Sheedy Award. Long before Zoom, Tom videotaped his classes and made the videos available. He matched low-performing students with those who had mastered the concepts so that each could improve their understanding of the material. Once, to awaken distracted students, he walked on his hands while lecturing. Among other endeavors, Tom started ND’s first coffee shop and initiated a course called “Gourmet Economics” which merged his great loves – economics, cooking, and teaching. Through the course, a rotating group of professors welcomed graduate students into their homes where they prepared both a meal and a lecture for the students to digest. In addition to teaching, Tom served in a variety of administrative roles, his favorite of which was running foreign studies programs. Tom initiated and administered the summer London Program for nearly a decade and deliberately timed the program so that student athletes could participate. As President of the ND Faculty Senate, he helped organize an attempted unionization of the faculty and cooperated with Saint Mary’s faculty on their ill-fated merger. Tom’s love of Notre Dame was passed onto his family. Six family members are ND graduates: his wife Jeanne, daughters Mary, Karen, Rebecca, and grandchildren Stephen and Meghan. Some even minored in economics and some became teachers.

Tom’s motto was “leave this world a little better than you found it.” He lived that vision throughout his life making a difference wherever he went. During Tom’s working life, while living on Marquette Avenue in South Bend, Indiana, Tom led the neighborhood association and was on the board of City Club swimming pool which he joined so his girls could learn to swim and dive. During this time, he was hired by both the city and state for his expertise in urban economics. He supported the political campaigns of Democrats from John Brademas to Pete Buttigieg. Perhaps this past experience influenced one of his delirious final conversations on July 16, 2022, in which he announced that death would free him up to finally campaign for Vice President.

After their retirements, Tom and Jeanne moved to Cass County near Diamond Lake where they have lived the past thirty years. Tom served on the Planning Commission there. He was a greeter at St. Ann Church for many years. He was a Commodore at the Diamond Lake Yacht Club where he famously kept meetings very short. Tom also served on the Foundation for Southwest Michigan College (SMC). He introduced the Diamond Lake community to SMC’s scholarship program at fundraising parties he hosted in his home. The fundraisers initially featured Notre Dame artists and musicians and later those with similar talents developed at SMC itself. Tom inspired many people to follow his example by contributing scholarships.

Upon learning his new hometown had no public swimming pool, Tom began the Diamond Lake Swim Camp for Sam Adams Grade School in Cassopolis, and the Marcellus Swim Camp in Marcellus, MI. Despite the formidable odds, his tenacious nature won the cooperation of the Niles YMCA, the schools and a community of donors who together made free swim lessons available for all fourth graders. Tom delighted in watching the young swimmers’ personal progress, whether it was getting their face wet, floating, diving or learning water safety. In addition to the swim program, Tom began a weekend lunch program at Sam Adams Grade School to provide lunch to needy students and their families when the children were not at school. To launch the program, he brought together the Quaker, Methodist, Presbyterian and Catholic communities as well as the nonprofit Helping Hands of Cass County to provide volunteers for the program while he raised the necessary funds. (Some neighbors claimed his gifts of bread actually cost them hundreds of dollars in donations to the program). As a result of his efforts, hundreds of families benefited.

Above all, Tom loved parties, especially ones at his home on Marquette Avenue or the 3 acres he dubbed Blackberry Farm in Cassopolis, Michigan. He carried his passion for parties to Saint George Island, Florida where the family rented a house on the beach during the sunless winter months of the Midwest. His New Year’s Eve potluck gatherings were legendary. Tom had a sourdough starter…a mother he claimed was 100 years old. Tom believed gifts of his “mother” circled the globe. He knew for sure that his bread, fresh from the oven, circled Diamond Lake.

At 5’4”, Tom was never bothered by his small stature and delighted in befriending guys over 6’2”. He wasn’t intimidated by people more accomplished than himself either. While in grad school at IU, he worked out with Olympic divers. At Notre Dame he taught alongside faculty members he considered geniuses. Tom was, however, greatly bothered by disorganization. He needed a plan for each day and for life. Shortly before his death he had us write down his five goals for his last weeks on earth. He accomplished every one of them.

Tom married Jeanne Jourdan twice on August 12th; the first time in 1961 and again in 1992. During their first marriage they had five daughters. During their second marriage they had five dogs… Tom’s boys. Fortunately, their daughters are all enormously better disciplined than the dogs. Equally as fortunate… so were Tom and Jeanne. At home, Tom insisted on cooking to the delight of every wife except his own. He claimed Jeanne read for fun and he cooked for fun. He reasoned that since his eyesight was too poor to read, he deserved to cook 99% of the meals.

Generosity was Tom’s middle name. He urged people to eat more, give more and do more to help others. The day before he died Tom agreed to eat a teaspoon of ice cream only if it would help a good cause.

Tom will be missed by the larger communities in which he lived but most sorely by his family. He leaves behind his loving wife Jeanne Jourdan; his eldest daughter Mary Butler and her children Meghan, Maureen and Thomas; his daughter Karen Miller and her children Stephen, Kevin and Chelsea, and his great grandchildren Patrick, Henry and Callie; his daughters Jennifer and Anne Swartz; his daughter Rebecca Schwei, her spouse Matt and their children Odessa and Calvin. Tom took particular pride in the diversity of careers pursued by his daughters - teaching, law, nursing, social policy research, entrepreneurship, parenting, and the building trades. He was overjoyed that Anne had accomplished what he had not…joining a union. He turned to Jenny for health care, although he didn’t always follow her advice. Tom cheered when Mary and Karen both left legal careers for child-centered ones. But nothing pleased him more than Rebecca’s administrative skills, which he considered her inheritance directly and singly from him.