Morris Swartz – 50th Reunion Essay

Morris Swartz

5332 Bryant Avenue

Oakland, CA 94618

morswa@aol.com

Spouse(s): Martha Swartz (1971)

Child(ren): Molly Swartz (1984)

Grandchild(ren): Ryan Rosenthal (2016)

Education: Univ of Michigan, MS in Bioengineering 1970, Univ of Rochester, MD 1975

Career: Academic medical practice in pulmonary and critical care medicine, Univ of Pennsylvania, Clinical Professor of Medicine

Avocations: Landscape photography; www.swartznaturescapes.com

College: Timothy Dwight

My recall of my Yale years consists of a number of possibly unrelated memories of events and faces: long hours in science labs, hatred of exam blue books, ringing of bells on old campus to interrupt sleep, practicing for Tang Cup, golf on the Yale course, late nights shooting the breeze, football games, spring fever, pressure trying to figure out the next step in my life. The worst part was the stilted social life of an all-male institution. Road trips and mixers were not the best preparation for life.

My life since Yale has been rewarding and challenging. I married at age 23 and remain happily married after 46-plus years to a wonderful woman. We have a daughter who graduated from Yale, and now have a cute grandson approaching year two. After retirement one year ago, we moved cross country to Oakland, California, to be closer to our family.

My professional life revolved around my career as a physician in pulmonary and critical care medicine. I remained in academic clinical practices and loved the intellectual challenges and emotional rewards of this profession. I was only upset by relatively long working hours, and retired at the top of my game.

I acquired a passion for landscape photography, which has motivated me to get to beautiful wilderness in various parts of the world (swartznaturescapes.com).

I cannot really say that my Yale education was the key factor in my “life well-lived.” Maybe the intellectual rigor played a role, but I have always been driven by self-education. Now I have the gift of time to concentrate on whatever I wish.