John Schwartz ’67 believed in the power of a liberal arts education to guide students to a successful career and a meaningful life. After all, his own life was, in many ways, a case study.
Raised in Lester Prairie, Minnesota, Schwartz graduated from Augsburg in 1967 and earned a master’s in hospital administration from the University of Minnesota. Over the course of four decades in health care, he held leadership positions in Milwaukee, Oregon, and Montana, concluding his career as president of Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago. His significant professional success was balanced by a lifelong engagement with the arts and an especially deep love of classical choral music. After touring Europe with the Augsburg choir in 1965, he continued to sing in ensembles throughout his life, including the Sullivan Chamber Ensemble of Milwaukee and the Apollo Chorus of Chicago.
Schwartz’s extraordinary generosity to Augsburg took many forms, from regularly hosting business students in Chicago to providing wise leadership counsel as a member of the Board of Regents. Schwartz and his husband created the John N. Schwartz and James A. Mosley Scholarship and two endowed professorships: the Leland B. Sateren ’35 Professorship and Chair of Music and the John N. Schwartz Professorship of Choral Leadership and Conducting. Most significantly, his visionary estate gift established Augsburg’s first named school, the John N. Schwartz ’67 School of the Arts.
“John told me that if just one student would go forward from Augsburg transformed, as he had been, by excellence in choral artistry, then his bequest would have been worth every dollar.”—Kristina Boerger, John N. Schwartz Professorship of Choral Leadership and Conducting
A business administration major with a grand passion for music. A savvy hospital administrator with a knack for storytelling. A humble, generous servant-leader who was committed to being a good steward of the gifts he’d been given.
More than anything else, Augsburg will remember John Schwartz as a lifelong friend.
Read more about the John N. Schwartz ’67 School of the Arts.