SR0490 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0490 LRB100 12619 MST 25876 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of George W. Swenson Jr. of Savoy, who passed away on February 22, 2017; and

WHEREAS, George Swenson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to George W. Sr. and Vernie Swenson on September 22, 1922; he earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University in 1944 by correspondence while serving on active duty in the United States Army as a second lieutenant in the Signal Corps; he received his master's degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1947, and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1949; and

WHEREAS, George Swenson taught electrical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, and Michigan State University in East Lansing; he then began a 60-year career at the University of Illinois; he authored, "The Principles of Modern Acoustics", while an associate professor of electrical engineering at Washington University; and

WHEREAS, George Swenson traveled around the world in the late 1950s, studying research installations in New Zealand, Australia, England, Europe, and the Soviet Union; he designed and built what was at the time the largest and most productive radio telescope on the planet near Danville - the VRO (Vermilion River Observatory); he was responsible for discovering, mapping, and cataloging thousands of new radio sources throughout the universe during its 20-plus-year research life; this propelled the University of Illinois to the forefront of radio astronomy research; he produced a receiver and tracking system, which became the foundation of the Satellite Ionosphere research group, which flourished for decades on the University of Illinois campus; and

WHEREAS, From 1964 to 1968, George Swenson chaired the design committee for the VLA (Vary Large Array), the iconic radio telescope that is shown on television daily; in the 1970s, he became interim chairman of the Astronomy Department at the University of Illinois; in 1979, he became chairman of the Electrical Engineering Department at the University, which lasted to 1985; he resigned from that position to return to his research for two years before retiring officially in 1987; he still had many years of research and mentoring graduate students in master's and Ph.D. programs; he held a position with the United States Army Corps of Engineers Laboratory in Champaign for decades doing research in acoustics; while with the Lab, he developed an automated monitoring system for tracking radio-tagged animals; and

WHEREAS, George Swenson spent parts of a number of summers advising on technical aspects of wildlife research on Barrow Colorado Island, a research station in the Panama Canal supported by The Smithsonian Institute; he was regularly recognized for his achievements, including memberships in organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineers; and

WHEREAS, As a youth the Huron Mountains of Michigan's Upper Peninsula were George Swenson's favorite stomping grounds; he climbed regularly in the Cascades and other northwest ranges in the early 1950s and later in the Alaska Range from 1954 to 1956; one of his first ascents was Institute Peak, Alaska, an 8,000-foot climb for which he received naming honors with his team; he trekked in Australia and New Zealand at various times and at about 60 years of age, he traversed the 45-mile Greenstone Ridge Trail on Isle Royale solo; he was an avid canoeist and circumnavigated Isle Royale and nearly completed a circumnavigation of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula; and

WHEREAS, George Swenson was an avid birder; he compiled a life list all over the Alaskan and Canadian Arctic, North America, Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand and more; he built a family camp on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula that he started in 1962 and which is still in use today; he and his wife donated an 80-acre patch of Keweenaw woods to the Michigan Nature Association which has become the "Gratiot Lake Overlook Nature Sanctuary"; and

WHEREAS, In 1995, George Swenson flew into Bettles, Alaska and spent two weeks on the Noatak River in The Gates of the Arctic National Preserve; he had been in every part of Alaska; he visited the North Pole in February of 1963; and

WHEREAS, George Swenson was a supporter of conservation organizations; he regularly contributed to The Nature Conservancy, The Michigan Nature Association, and many others; he earned a private pilot license in 1955, and flew regularly until 2011 at the age of 88; around 2005, he received a citation from the FAA for 50 years of flying without an incident; and

WHEREAS, George Swenson was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, Ward V. Swenson; his sister-in-law, Roseann Peterson Swenson; and his grand-nephew, Andrew C. Vadnais; and

WHEREAS, George Swenson is survived by his wife of 46 years, Joy Janice Swenson; his children, George W. "Jud" III (Mary Knight) Swenson, Laura Swenson, Julie L. (John) Carney, and Donna J. (Mark) Jones; his grandchildren, Kevin (Jamie) McQuain, Ren (Steff) Farrar, Arthur E. (Melissa) Jones, Mark C. (Elizabeth) Jones, and Madeleine (fiancee Boomer Braun) Swenson; his great-grandsons, Dylan McQuain and Elliot Jones; and six nephews and nieces and their children and grandchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of George W. Swenson Jr., and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of George Swenson as an expression of our deepest sympathy.