alumniprofiles.w. john swartz
Children are easily amused by automation. Young boys love
playing with toy cars, train sets, and airplane models. Most
decide right at age five that they are going to be train
conductors
or airplane pilots. Normally however, the childhood fantasy
does not blossom into an adulthood reality. For only a few,
trains and planes play an important role in the future of
their lives.
W. John Swartz’s, former president of Atchinson, Topeka,
and Santa Fe Railway Co., interconnection with railroads and
trains continued beyond his childhood days. Although the corporation’s
name specifies only railroads, Santa Fe is a multi-industrial
company which has holding company work in oil, gas, real estate,
pipeline, and timber. It opened its doors over a half a century
ago, and is now the largest independent (not refined or retailed)
producer of oil in the country.
Obviously, becoming president of a company does not happen
overnight. Swartz has a long, prosperous career with Santa
Fe which merely culminated with this honor.
In an effort to illustrate his childhood ‘molding’
and his illustrious career, we will take a trip backward—
through the years of W. John Swartz’s life.
Swartz was born in Kansas and grew up during the Depression.
Being the son of a school teacher, his family moved to a series
of small towns throughout Kansas. By the time Swartz entered
high school, his family had settled down in Kansas City, Kansas.
During high school his interests included tennis, football,
and debate.
The time finally came when he had to decide which college
to attend. For some, Duke is a natural choice; for others,
including Swartz, it is an accident. Swartz was quite uncertain
as to which school he should attend. He won a Navy scholarship
which he could avail at any one of fifty-two universities.
He flipped through a list of universities alphabetically and
found that Duke seemed to meet his requirements in a university:
it was far away, the curriculum was appealing, it was a reasonable
size, and it seemed like a nice school.
After being accepted, Swartz hopped on a bus to North Carolina
with his duffel bag in hand, waiting to see what the first
days at Duke would hold for him. Prior to orientation, Swartz
never visited Duke, and was pleasantly surprised by the offerings
of the university. “Duke had a very friendly student
body; I found it easy to make friends.”
While at Duke, Swartz successfully ran for president of his
freshman class, chaired different annual events including
parades and Dad’s Day, participated in intramural sports,
and maintained membership on the Student Union Board of Governors.
He was also a member of the Tau Beta Pi fraternity.
In 1956, Swartz graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science
in mechanical engineering, and prepared to enter the Marine
Corp. When viewing his education at Duke, Swartz explains,
“As far as engineering is concerned, I think.., my classmates
and I were well prepared.”
He added that the basic approach to problem solving was
a key segment of his education— learning how to manipulate
concepts and solve problems have been necessary skills throughout
his career. As for the downside of the curriculum, “I
wish I had received a broader liberal arts background, [specifically,]
more English [and other humanity] courses after all, you use
English all your life...”
Further, since many engineers go into the management side
of companies, some basic background in business would have
also enhanced his education. “The more business background
you have, the faster you can make the transition from the
technical side to the management side.”
After completion of his undergraduate degree, Swartz married
his high school sweetheart, Dorothy. Their wedding was one
of the spectacular Duke Chapel weddings that every Duke student
admires as he walks across the quad.
From 1956 to 1959, Swartz was stationed at Quantico and the
Pacific where he served as a combat engineer. These three
years constituted some of the quietest years in American history,
for this time period was before the Vietnam War and after
the Korean. Although he once considered a career in the military,
after being sent to Quantico to teach, Swartz decided that
it was time to move on.
Consequently, he enrolled in law school at George Washington
University. Swartz started out in the patent law field, but
ended up enjoying labor law more. When recollecting those
years, he says, “I loved law school.. .1 was intellectually
happiest during this period.”
The conclusion of law school provides the beginning of an
illustrious career for W. John Swartz. There was a notice
on the placement board searching to hire lawyers for the Atchinson,
Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Co.’s corporate law department.
After receiving a position with the company, Swartz planned
to continue with them for five years or so, and then move
on to ‘bigger and better’ things.
As fate would have it, one cold winter day after five and
a half years of work at Santa Fe Railway, Swartz’s boss
came into his office and offered him an opportunity to
attend the Sloan School Program at MIT in order to receive
a Master’s Degree in Management, thereby providing him
an opportunity for promotion in the company. The new president
of Santa Fe Railway was interested in upgrading, and Swartz’s
previous educational background coincided with the president’s
desires to initiate a new management development program.
Therefore, after a year at MIT, Swartz began a second career
in general management finance, including recruiting, in- house
management, and personnel development. Two years later in
1969, he became the Assistant Vice President of Personnel.
From this point on, Swartz did not rush or become impatient.
He worked his way up in the company by climbing the ladder
one rung at a time until he reached the top. His positions
included: AT&SF Assistant Vice President of Executive
Department in 1972, AT&SF Vice President of Administration
in 1977, Santa Fe Industries (5Ff) Executive Vice President
in 1978, AT&SF Executive Vice President in 1980, SF1 President
in 1983, Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp. (SFSP) Vice Chairman
in 1983, and AT&SF President in 1986.
Naturally, all careers have their tremors. Fortunately for
Swartz, all the tremors were controllable through quick, decisive
business transactions. In retrospect, Swartz has no regrets
about his career. He feels it was quite satisfying right up
until his retirement on January 1, 1990. He was glad he left
the company when he did, for he did not want to be known as
an old president with old, stagnant ideas. “Too many
people die in their job or use up all their ideas before they’ll
leave.”
On the other hand, he’s glad that he left the company
in a positive status. He explains, ..... I enjoyed the period
I spent bringing new people into the company... [I feel certain
that] when I retired I left a lot of good people there to
progress the company.”
On a personal note, John Swartz has been married to Dorothy
Swarzt for 35 years. Mrs. Swartz graduated from the University
of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is a commercial artist
whose earnings supported John Swartz when he was completing
his law degree, but now constitutes a hobby in her life. The
Swartz’s have two children John and Jeffrey. John is
28 years old. He completed his undergraduate degree in electrical
engineering at MIT and is currently completing his doctorate
degree at Duke. Jeffrey is 26 and is presently working in
San Francisco as an editor for technical manuals. He completed
a degree in math and computer science at the University of
Illinois.
Some of Swartz’s hobbies include travel, tennis, biking,
and bridge. He and his family are also involved in student
exchange affairs. They enjoy acting as a second family for
different students who go to Chicago for an education.
Now Swartz and his wife enjoy the peace and comfort of retirement.
Recently, they took a trip to South America, and plan on partaking
on other journeys in the near future. However, before one
can enjoy all the beauty and serenity life has to offer, one
must put in hard, labor time. “Hard work and long hours
got me here. It doesn’t matter if your blessed with
brains and talent. You’ll only be the best in your career
if you put in time ... There are no easy shortcuts to success,
certainatly not in business or law.”
Swartz paid his dues, and had a prosperous career as a reward
for his hard work.
Lisa Oberoi is a junior in Electrical Engineering
and English.
DUKENGINEER FALL 1991
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