SUNY Westchester Community College renamed its Student Center to The David Swope Student Center. Swope was a dedicated, tireless and generous supporter of SUNY WCC and its students, serving as a member, President and Chairman of the WCC Foundation Board, as well as Chair of the WCC Board of Trustees.
The unveiling of the new name featured as speakers County Executive George Latimer, Chair of the Board of Trustees for SUNY WCC LeRoy Mitchell, and former Chair of the WCC Foundation Board Joanne Landau.
“This renaming to honor David Swope is a powerful symbol of his commitment to education and the opportunities it provides,” said County Executive Latimer. “David’s tireless dedication to SUNY Westchester Community College, its students, and access to affordable education will now forever be memorialized. We are profoundly thankful to the Swope family for their generosity and service to our community.”
“This well-deserved tribute celebrates David’s devotion to the college, and more specifically to its students,” said Dr. Mitchell. “His passion was for making higher education affordable, particularly for those who were less fortunate. He understood the importance of completion for these students and tried, through his generosity and unflagging efforts, to help remove barriers and obstacles for those in need. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the Swope family for their generosity and service to the County and to the college.”
“David was a leader in the community in investing in Westchester’s most precious resource – our intellectual capital,” said Dr. Belinda Miles, President of SUNY WCC. “His efforts and the support of those he collaborated with has already vastly improved the success of our students and is a keystone in building a stronger Westchester County.”
“David’s gentle guidance and enlightened leadership as Chair of the Foundation Board enabled the success of several major initiatives at the College and Foundation over the past two decades,” said Landau. “David’s belief in the transformational power of scholarships, both financially and emotionally, has helped countless students succeed when they thought they could not.”
A fitting tribute to a generous man. David was a philanthropist with a dual career – not just giving and helping, but creating and managing a business of his own. He was also a man of exceptional taste and compassion, wit and warmth. When he started his fitness empire, some were surprised as physical fitness seemed low on his otherwise erudite list of interests. But looks deceive. He was in truth a closet athlete, having an indoor and outdoor pool. He was also a polymath: not just dedicated to supporting local education, firefighters and the arts (and an expert on the art of India), but also a champion of the cause of conservation long before it became a bandwagon.
Landau correctly states David’s strongest point : gentle guidance.. a remarkable gift to all he guided.