Donald Swift ’57

Donald Swift ’57 passed away on November 14, 2023. Don graduated from Deerfield Academy. At Dartmouth he majored in geology, was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon (treasurer), and active in The Quarterly (associate editor) and Army ROTC. Upon graduation he served at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, for six months and entered Johns Hopkins University for a master’s and the University of North Carolina for a Ph.D., specializing in earth sciences/geology. Don taught at UNC and then Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He held many positions in his career, including research geologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Virginia and the Atlantic Richfield Co. in Texas. Mid-career he returned to the academic world and worked at Old Dominion University for 25 years before retiring. He was an eminent scholar of ocean, earth, and atmospheric sciences. In 2010 he earned the Francis J. Pettijohn Medal for Sedimentology, a top award given by the International Society for Sedimentary Geology. Don was known as a kind man who helped many who were discouraged to move forward. His hobbies were archeology and painting. He was predeceased by his wife, Sondra, and daughter Etain. He is survived by daughter Cecelia, son Colin, and many grandchildren.