Harry F. Swanger ’61

Harry F. Swanger ’61, of St. Louis, Missouri, formerly of Pennsylvania; Dec. 29, after a brief illness. He spent three years as a starter on Brown’s varsity football team followed by service in the U.S. Air Force. After discharge, he tried working in flooring industry sales, had a brief stint (two days) of substitute teaching in a Lebanon, Pa., school system—where he met his future wife—and then attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Law before transferring to the Duquesne School of Law, from which he graduated. He started a law practice in Pittsburgh. Following his work in social justice (prisoners’ rights and juvenile justice), he and his family moved to St. Louis in 1975 and he became deputy director of the National Juvenile Law Center within the St. Louis University School of Law. His love of music led him to found Compton Heights Concert Band. He was president and bassoonist and with the band performed a free summer concert series for more than 40 years. During his time as president, he further expanded the band’s outreach by producing a TV show, Sunrise Serenades, beginning in 2000, that aired at 6 a.m. on Saturdays for 15 months. One of the band’s featured artists was an international operatic tenor who inspired Harry to become an international opera tour organizer. When bingo fundraising for nonprofits was legalized in Missouri, Harry and several band members volunteered to staff and operate bingo at several different locations for many years until the band suspended operations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was an avid collector of vinyl, pinball machines, and jukeboxes, and had three vintage Mercedes. He is survived by his wife, Kitty; three daughters and their spouses, including Justine Swanger Lipiarski ’89; and five grandchildren.