Geneva native Jeff Swanagan, who directed several major zoos and aquariums across the country and most recently the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, died Sunday of an apparent heart attack as he mowed his lawn, the Associated Press reports.
A 1976 graduate of Geneva High School, Swanagan, 51, saw former classmate and close friend Ron Clutter just six months ago.
“(Swanagan) gave our volleyball team a private tour of the zoo,” Clutter said. “It was a very special time.”
Swanagan moved from Footville to Geneva-on-the-Lake in the 1970s, where he attended Geneva High School his junior and senior years.
Swanagan was president and executive director of the $290 million Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. He also was CEO of the Florida Aquarium from 1998 to 2002 and was deputy director of Zoo Atlanta from 1992 to 1998.
After years of developing and managing the largest and most successful zoos and aquariums in the world, Swanagan came to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium last year.
“He was very excited to get back home — back to the place where he started his career,” Clutter said.
Clutter said he is “shocked” at Swanagan’s death and had stayed close friends with Swanagan and his family through the years.
“He was absolutely the best in whatever he took on,” Clutter said. “(Swanagan) was an absolutely outstanding guy. We had a lot of fun together as kids.”
Clutter said Swanagan’s son is to marry next week. Swanagan had five children and Clutter said he made his career in zoos and aquariums into a family business.
“His children often traveled to work with him at the many zoos and aquariums that he managed,” Clutter said. “It was a passion for him, a love for animals mixed with his realistic view of his career and that industry.”
His first job was to localize marketing of the zoo, and he had begun planning for the next zoo expansion, a polar-bear exhibit scheduled to open later this year.
The Associate Press reports Swanagan achieved a reputation as an aquatic conservationist and world-class scuba diver. He had studied aquariums in 13 countries before coming to Columbus.
Clutter said while Swanagan’s legacy is deeply entrenched in the zoo and aquarium community, he hopes the people of Geneva take a moment to recognize Swanagan’s accomplishments, too.
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