THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 29, 1997 TAG: 9701290439
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: SEATTLE LENGTH: 47 lines
Norman Guernsey Swift died of a stroke at Virginia Mason Hospital, Seattle, on Jan. 21, 1997. He was 91.
Mr. Swift was the son of Daisy Peabody Swift and J. Otis Swift, the Nature Editor of the New York World Telegram. Born in New York City in 1905, he grew up in the suburb of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1927 with a degree in business administration and worked as junior trader for Brown Brothers and several other Wall Street brokerage firms. After the crash of 1929 and ensuing Depression, Mr. Swift taught Economics and American History at high schools in Mamaroneck, Middletown, and Hastings, N.Y. In 1933, he married Ruth Mary Palmer, also of Hastings. In 1941, he received a master's degree in Social Studies from Columbia University.
At the onset of World War II, Mr. Swift volunteered for military service. At 36 years of age, he was not accepted, but found a wartime role in the expanding activities of the federal government. Moving to Arlington, Va., in 1943, he served as economic analyst, first in the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce, then in the State Department. He was transferred to the American Legation in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1944 where he was the shipping attache of the Legation.
After the war, Mr. Swift returned to the U.S. and rejoined the Department of Commerce in its New York Field Office. In 1948, he transferred to the National Association of Manufacturers, where he was appointed to the staff of the Federal Subsidies Committee. As the Cold War intensified, he returned to Washington, D.C., where he served as intelligence officer in the Central Intelligence Agency.
Mr. Swift retired in 1962, and he and his wife divided their time between their summer home in Georgetown, Maine, and a winter home in Montross, Va., where Mr. Swift served as volunteer on the local Fuel Allocation Board. He was an active Episcopalian throughout his life, was a member of the vestry of St. James Episcopal Church in Montross, and was a member of The Sons of the American Revolution. In 1995, Mr. Swift and his wife moved to Island House, Mercer Island, Wash., to be near their daughter and son-in-law, Ruth Deborah and Kenneth Zike.
Other survivors include his son and daughter-in-law, Dr. Donald and Sondra Swift, of Norfolk; his grandchildren, David Zike of Seattle, Etain Swift and Colin Carroll of Norfolk; his granddaughter and grandson-in-law Cecilia and Daniel Petretto of Virginia Beach; and his great-grandchild, Jeremy Petretto of Virginia Beach.
A memorial service was held at Emmanual Episcopal Church, Mercer Island. Mr. Swift will be interred at the family plot in Georgetown, Maine.
KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY