John T. Swanson

John Thure Swanson (Swanny) was born on October 19, 1954 and passed away suddenly on July 10, 2025. He was 70 years old. John went to UCONN after attending Daniel Hand High School and worked most of his career for CT DOT as a Purchasing Agent.

John is predeceased by his parents Shirley and Ken Swanson. He has a surviving brother, Ken Swanson, his wife Patchy and their daughters Kate and Elizabeth. He has a surviving sister Mary-Ellen Higgins and her husband Jim and his daughter Erin. He also has cousins Donna and Gary Laroche who helped him over the years in so many ways. They’ve been consistently there for him. Other surviving cousins are Marie Warner and Richie Loesche.

John was a character and steadfast Madison resident all his life. In the morning you could catch him at Nick’s restaurant having breakfast with the other ’12 angry men’. In the past, he also frequented the Madison Coffee Shop. After breakfast, he’d stop at Cumbies and get a newspaper and some scratch tickets and head to West Wharf. There he’d watch the sunrise and take photos of it and the seagulls – one of his favorite seagulls was Clyde. He’d count all the American flags up in the summer, keep an eye on the boats and kind of be the beach police.

In the afternoon, he’d head out to Brother Mike’s to visit with other locals and his favorite bar tenders (Joe, Holly and Danny to name a few). On Mondays, he would go to Bill’s Seafood. At one point he was having impromptu Hand High class reunions there.

He was a generous man and very intelligent. He was also complex and sometimes hard to figure out.

He loved Madison and will be truly missed by his family, friends and the town. Best wishes on your new adventures in the next world John. You are loved.

There will be a celebration of John’s life at Brother Mikes in the not-too-distant future.