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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of George W. Swenson Jr. of Savoy, who
4passed away on February 22, 2017; and
 
5    WHEREAS, George Swenson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota
6to George W. Sr. and Vernie Swenson on September 22, 1922; he
7earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from
8Michigan Technological University in 1944 by correspondence
9while serving on active duty in the United States Army as a
10second lieutenant in the Signal Corps; he received his master's
11degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts
12Institute of Technology in 1947, and his Ph.D. from the
13University of Wisconsin in 1949; and
 
14    WHEREAS, George Swenson taught electrical engineering at
15Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, the University of
16Alaska in Fairbanks, and Michigan State University in East
17Lansing; he then began a 60-year career at the University of
18Illinois; he authored, "The Principles of Modern Acoustics",
19while an associate professor of electrical engineering at
20Washington University; and
 
21    WHEREAS, George Swenson traveled around the world in the
22late 1950s, studying research installations in New Zealand,

 

 

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1Australia, England, Europe, and the Soviet Union; he designed
2and built what was at the time the largest and most productive
3radio telescope on the planet near Danville - the VRO
4(Vermilion River Observatory); he was responsible for
5discovering, mapping, and cataloging thousands of new radio
6sources throughout the universe during its 20-plus-year
7research life; this propelled the University of Illinois to the
8forefront of radio astronomy research; he produced a receiver
9and tracking system, which became the foundation of the
10Satellite Ionosphere research group, which flourished for
11decades on the University of Illinois campus; and
 
12    WHEREAS, From 1964 to 1968, George Swenson chaired the
13design committee for the VLA (Vary Large Array), the iconic
14radio telescope that is shown on television daily; in the
151970s, he became interim chairman of the Astronomy Department
16at the University of Illinois; in 1979, he became chairman of
17the Electrical Engineering Department at the University, which
18lasted to 1985; he resigned from that position to return to his
19research for two years before retiring officially in 1987; he
20still had many years of research and mentoring graduate
21students in master's and Ph.D. programs; he held a position
22with the United States Army Corps of Engineers Laboratory in
23Champaign for decades doing research in acoustics; while with
24the Lab, he developed an automated monitoring system for
25tracking radio-tagged animals; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, George Swenson spent parts of a number of summers
2advising on technical aspects of wildlife research on Barrow
3Colorado Island, a research station in the Panama Canal
4supported by The Smithsonian Institute; he was regularly
5recognized for his achievements, including memberships in
6organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences and the
7National Academy of Engineers; and
 
8    WHEREAS, As a youth the Huron Mountains of Michigan's Upper
9Peninsula were George Swenson's favorite stomping grounds; he
10climbed regularly in the Cascades and other northwest ranges in
11the early 1950s and later in the Alaska Range from 1954 to
121956; one of his first ascents was Institute Peak, Alaska, an
138,000-foot climb for which he received naming honors with his
14team; he trekked in Australia and New Zealand at various times
15and at about 60 years of age, he traversed the 45-mile
16Greenstone Ridge Trail on Isle Royale solo; he was an avid
17canoeist and circumnavigated Isle Royale and nearly completed a
18circumnavigation of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula; and
 
19    WHEREAS, George Swenson was an avid birder; he compiled a
20life list all over the Alaskan and Canadian Arctic, North
21America, Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand and
22more; he built a family camp on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula
23that he started in 1962 and which is still in use today; he and

 

 

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1his wife donated an 80-acre patch of Keweenaw woods to the
2Michigan Nature Association which has become the "Gratiot Lake
3Overlook Nature Sanctuary"; and
 
4    WHEREAS, In 1995, George Swenson flew into Bettles, Alaska
5and spent two weeks on the Noatak River in The Gates of the
6Arctic National Preserve; he had been in every part of Alaska;
7he visited the North Pole in February of 1963; and
 
8    WHEREAS, George Swenson was a supporter of conservation
9organizations; he regularly contributed to The Nature
10Conservancy, The Michigan Nature Association, and many others;
11he earned a private pilot license in 1955, and flew regularly
12until 2011 at the age of 88; around 2005, he received a
13citation from the FAA for 50 years of flying without an
14incident; and
 
15    WHEREAS, George Swenson was preceded in death by his
16parents; his brother, Ward V. Swenson; his sister-in-law,
17Roseann Peterson Swenson; and his grand-nephew, Andrew C.
18Vadnais; and
 
19    WHEREAS, George Swenson is survived by his wife of 46
20years, Joy Janice Swenson; his children, George W. "Jud" III
21(Mary Knight) Swenson, Laura Swenson, Julie L. (John) Carney,
22and Donna J. (Mark) Jones; his grandchildren, Kevin (Jamie)

 

 

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1McQuain, Ren (Steff) Farrar, Arthur E. (Melissa) Jones, Mark C.
2(Elizabeth) Jones, and Madeleine (fiancee Boomer Braun)
3Swenson; his great-grandsons, Dylan McQuain and Elliot Jones;
4and six nephews and nieces and their children and
5grandchildren; therefore, be it
 
6    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL
7ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
8George W. Swenson Jr., and extend our sincere condolences to
9his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
10further
 
11    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
12presented to the family of George Swenson as an expression of
13our deepest sympathy.