Q. Why did you join Alpha Zeta?
A. A great group of Ags and I had some friends that were joining as well. It was a great choice and one I never regreted. My best friends are my fraternity brothers, even though I live thousands of miles away on the west coast.
Q. What is your favorite memory of the fraternity?
A. It had to be hell week when two of us were taken deep into the Nittany mountains on a snowy night and dropped off. As we stumbled around completely lost, we ran into two other brothers similarly dumped in the mountains. We banded together and came upon a hunters lodge. The two guys, drunk out of their minds, welcomed us out of the cold, fed us some of the best stew I ever had and drove us back to State College, where we slept the rest of the night. True story.
Q. With whom are you still in touch? Who would you like to find?
A. I am still in touch with Norm Schue ’57, Dave Morrison ’57, Roy Prescott ’58, Don Snyder ’57 and Dick Pharo ’57. I would like to talk to Bill Wallace, Gordy and Gary Miller (all class of ’58) and Ken Sacks ’57, again. How about holding a class reunion during the summer, back at Penn State for the classes of ’55-’60. Is it possible???
Q. Tell us about your family.
A. Well, my wife died almost seven years ago. I have been going with Wendy Jacquemin for five years. She was a professional singer in musicals and summer stock and we are doing a lot of duets. In fact, we leave Jan. 2 for Guatemala City to sing in a wedding – my sister Betsy’s son is getting married.
Q. What other activities did you enjoy in school?
A. Lots of them; Glee Club, lacrosse, muscical theater, etc.
Q. What was your nickname and how did you get it?
A. Swaby, my middle name.
Q. Did you live in the house? Who were your roommates?
A. I lived in the house and had lots of roommates, that was one of the good things – getting to know so many different brothers.
Q. What do you do for a living?
A. I am a biochemistry and molecular biology professor at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine.
Q. What organizations are you affiliated with in your community?
A. I am co-chairman of the International Committee of Nomencalture of Exogenous Hemostatic Agents and of the International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.
Q. What hobbies do you enjoy?
A. Singing, working out, walking on the beach
Q. What are your goals for the next few years?
A. To get my research into clinical trials as a novel anticancer agent. After that I will think about retiring.