Sage Kiernan-Sherrow  | News Editor

Friends who knew Ron Swartzendruber best describe him as someone who built bridges — a man who connected databases as much as he connected people. On Feb. 19, he passed away at the age of 48 after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest, and is survived by his wife, Whitney Ware; parents, Warren and Jackie; and brother, Erik. 

Bill Kernan, the Director of the University Computing Services department, is the man who originally hired Swartzendruber back when the university’s server was on a PC sitting in the basement of the Administrative Building. Though it was originally thought that he would only be staying for five years, Swartzendruber went on to dedicate over 21 years of service to Western as one of its main programmers at UCS. Western’s portal, as well as many other programs utlized on campus, are credited, in part, to Swartzendruber’s endeavors. The campus lost an asset in the programming world, but those at UCS lost a friend. 

Kolis Crier, the Banner Solutions and Integrations Manager at UCS, recalled the first time he met Swartzendruber, saying “he had a welcoming and happy spirit … and an infectious laugh.” Crier, whose desk has neighbored Swartzendruber’s for years, added that, “he was always engaged, he always had the answer, or was willing to share information.”

Yet, according to Kernan, he had no ego whatsoever —  a characteristic that Kernan called a “rarity” in the IT world, considering Swartzendruber’s intelligence. In fact, Swartzendruber was an active member on Quora, an online platform for sharing information, where it was discovered he made over 5,000 posts in his lifetime, many of them responses to people struggling with personal issues.

“Ron had a ministry on Quora. He helped thousands of people he didn’t know, for no other reason than the fact that he likes helping people,” said Tony Manso, the Mobile and Systems Programmer at UCS. 

In one of the last posts before his passing, Swartzendruber responded to a prompt that read “Is it good to demonize the reality of our world by making it worse in our mind and then experience it with less pain?” 

His answer?

“If we have trained ourselves to expect the worst, it would be far harder to choose anything besides staying in our comfort zone and letting life pass us by …. that’s too high a price for whatever reduction in pain we might get gain in exchange,” said Swartzendruber. 

A man who always wore Birkenstocks unless it was snowing, and who loved Sci-fi and Cliff Bars, Swartzendruber was “a teacher … and the glue between many of the staff and groups at UCS,” according to Michael Ellis, the Assistant Director of UCS.

Members of the UCS team have identified over 40 projects in which Swartzendruber was the main contributor. They are currently collaborating in order to finish what he left behind. 

“Ron’s scope was so large, that we’re just having to pick off the most important ones first,” said Kernan.

Since Swartzendruber was an avid cyclist who biked to work every day and once even across the United States, there are plans for one of his bicycles to be incorporated into a sculpture in his memory. And, there will be two services to honor Swartzendruber; one will be a private family service, and the other will be held at Western on March 14th to celebrate his contributions to the university and to his campus community.

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photos courtesy of Bill Kernan, Director of UCS