Obituary of Edward Taft Swire, MD

Edward Taft Swire of Clifton Park, 82, died on Monday, January 25, 2021 at Albany Med after a brief illness.  He was born in Brooklyn in 1938 and was the son of the late Arthur and Florence Taft Swire.  He attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn.  He then studied at Lehigh University, getting his BA in 1960.

After college, Dr. Swire pursued a career in medicine, obtaining his MD from the New York University School of Medicine.  After medical school, he completed his internship and residency at the Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse.  He specialized in internal medicine and gastroenterology, completing a fellowship at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY.  After finishing his training, he served his country as a captain in the US Air Force, MC, Chief of Gastroenterology, at Westover AFB Regional Hospital in Chicopee, MA.  After his service, Dr. Swire practiced internal medicine and gastroenterology in Washington, DC and Lansdale, PA.  Dr. Swire arrived in the Capital District in 1976.  He set up a private practice in Troy, which he continued to operate until 2001.  He was an attending physician at Samaritan and St. Mary’s Hospitals, helping hundreds of patients from the community.  He loved his patients and colleagues.  

Ed was most passionate about sports, his family, and dogs. Growing up, he masterfully wielded the Spaldeen in stickball contests on the mean streets of Flatbush.  As a father, Ed frequently played basketball, baseball, and rod hockey with his sons.  He was merciless with his sky hook, taking full advantage of his two foot height advantage. He was a huge fan of the New York Giants baseball and football teams.  He always regretted missing Bobby Thompson’s pennant-clinching home run in 1951 as his mother forced him to attend a piano lesson.  Despite their many Super Bowl wins, the football Giants tormented Ed with their “unimaginative play calling” and maddening habit of drafting “stiffs”.  After retirement, he took the Capital District Softball League by storm with his speed on the bases and incredible range in the outfield.  

Throughout his life, Ed spent much of the summer with his extended family at Three Brothers Island in Lake George.  He enjoyed fishing, reading the paper on the dock, and swimming in the company of his cousins.

At home, Ed loved playing with his faithful springer spaniel Robbie (a.k.a. “The Robbie Man”).  Robbie always followed him around the house.  Even after he fell ill, he would sleep on the couch downstairs to ensure that Robbie wasn’t lonely.  

Ed is the beloved husband of Kim Anderson Swire; devoted father of Michael (Lisa Greenwald-Swire) Swire of Hillsborough, CA and Geoffrey (Michelle Nebres) Swire of Sudbury, MA whose mother Maxine Ritz Swire resides in Wellington, FL; brother of the late James (the late Edith) Swire; cherished grandfather of Joshua and Zoe Swire and Madeleine and Lia Swire; Uncle of Elizabeth (Charles) Falker.

Funeral will be private on Friday, January 29.

Interment with full military honors will be in the Saratoga National Cemetery, Schuylerville, NY.

In lieu of flowers, please contribute in Ed’s name to the Capital District Humane Association, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and/or the Lake George Association.

Please click the following link to access a video tribute to Ed:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ieu9NIfzMriF5ZFEbZtU5JZH6z2X6CyH/view?usp=sharing