Cal Lutheran University minister challenged, mentored students

Gerald Swanson dies at age 77


IN MEMORIAL—The Rev. Gerald Swanson accepts the Cal Lutheran Honorary Alumni Award at the 2007 undergraduate commencement. Swanson died on July 3.

IN MEMORIAL—The Rev. Gerald Swanson accepts the Cal Lutheran Honorary Alumni Award at the 2007 undergraduate commencement. Swanson died on July 3.

The Rev. Gerald Swanson, a Thousand Oaks resident who taught and provided spiritual guidance to California Lutheran University students for three decades, died at his home in Thousand Oaks on July 3 at the age of 77.

Swanson became CLU’s first full-time campus pastor in 1969. He helped students through the time of the Vietnam War and concerns for social equality.

He helped form the university’s student congregation, Lord of Life, and led ongoing discussions on the issues of the day.

Swanson guided many students on the path to ministry or other careers of service. While he was pastor, he also helped teach an honors humanities program.

He left his role as pastor in 1986 and split his time between teaching English and serving as the director of the university’s Learning Assistance Center. At the center, he helped struggling students develop academic and personal management skills and overcome disabilities.

As an assistant professor of English, he developed a class called Literature of the Earth that combined the study of literature with environmental issues.

As both a chaplain and a faculty member, he challenged students to evaluate and debate social and political issues in a balanced manner.

He retired in 1999 and was granted emeritus status.

A native of Illinois, Swanson earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Augustana College. He received a Master of Divinity from the Augustana Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1963.

He served as the founding pastor of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Canfield, Ohio, and briefly served as an associate pastor of a Detroit church before he and his wife, CLU English professor emerita Jan Bowman, came to Thousand Oaks with their three children.

The couple remained active at CLU following retirement. In 2003, they received the Christus Award for strengthening the bridge between the church and university. In 2007, the Alumni Association named them honorary alumni.

In the community, Swanson volunteered for the Holden Village Lutheran retreat center, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Thousand Oaks, Conejo Valley Hospice and the Southeastern Ventura County Drug Abuse Project.

He also served as chair of the Conejo Valley Refugee Committee, which sponsored a 25-member Vietnamese family and helped them settle in the Conejo Valley in the 1970s.

Bowman died in 2009. Swanson is survived by the couple’s children, Mindy and CLU alumni Krister and Karl, and their families.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Mon., Aug. 3 in Samuelson Chapel on the Thousand Oaks campus. In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to the Swanson Memorial Fund at the university or Holden Village.


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