George Desmond Swartout II

George D. "Jake" Swartout, II was born in Muskegon, Michigan July 16, 1937 to George D. and Anne Katherine Swartout. He passed away on March 16, 2022. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Alice. They have 3 children, Karen, Christopher, and Jennifer, and 2 grandchildren, Grace and Jesse. He is also survived by his 3 sisters, Nancy Brown, Toni Swartout, and Debbie (Bill) Crabtree.

His family moved to Winter Park, FL after WWII in 1947, where he attended elementary and high school. He played most sports and was later named All Conference and All State in Football. He was inducted into the Winter Park High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. Jake joined the Navy Reserve and served for nearly 2 years until he attended Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN. He later joined the U.S. Army (Florida National Guard). He served 6 ½ years on active duty as a Medic and later in Reserves. He achieved the rank of S. Sgt. and proudly has honorable discharges from the Navy and Army. In 1956 Jake met the love of his life, Alice and after 4 years of courtship, they were married on September 2nd, 1960. Jake was working at Martin Marietta Corp. and attended Rollins College School of Business. He graduated in 1968 with a BGS Degree. In 1970 he went to work for RCA as Purchasing Manager in their Computer Plant in Palm Beach Gardens. In 1971 RCA closed their computer business and he and Alice opened Florida Golf and Tennis along with partner Bill Howden. They were the first off-course golf and tennis shop in Palm Beach County. In 1988 Jake was elected Governor of the Florida District of Kiwanis Int. He and Alice traveled the state visiting the 31 Divisions, over 350 Kiwanis Clubs and 16,200 members. It was a truly fulfilling year. Jake worked with Kiwanis International to start a program called Aktion, which is a Service club, like Kiwanis, comprised entirely of Developmentally Disabled adults. In 2000, Aktion was charted as a Service Program by Kiwanis. To date there are over 12,000 members in 600 clubs worldwide. They are longtime members of the First Presbyterian Church in NPB. Jake served as a Deacon, Elder, and was the Chairman of the Missions Committee, where he headed a project to build a Christian School in Chichicastenango, Guatemala. The school today serves many of the Cantons around Chichi. Jake also served on boards of Global Missions, Gathering of Men, Adopt A Family, J.A.Y Ministries, First Pres. Senior Membership and also many Kiwanis entities. One of the unique continuous ministries is the Thursday Men's Breakfast which is held at First Pres. every Thursday for the past 48 years. This is a Christian Outreach Breakfast that he and Ken Coleman began in 1974.

His caring and his sense of humor made him an incredible son, husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and friend to all who knew him.

Jake will be cremated as he would like his remains to be distributed as he lived his life - to be a Christian Witness externally as well as eternally. He is looking forward to seeing many of you in heaven.

A memorial service will be held at First Presbyterian Church in North Palm Beach at 3pm on Friday April 1st, 2022.

In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made in George's memory at Missions Frontier: 4521 PGA Blvd. #409 Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418