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.Weyman D. Swagger, Baltimore Sun photographer, editor
April 01, 2010| By Jacques Kelly
Weyman D. Swagger, a Baltimore Sun news photographer who became the paper's first photo editor, died of cancer Wednesday at his Halethorpe home. He was 66.
During his 47 years at the paper, he took thousands of photos. He was shot at while taking photos during the 1968 city riots, chronicled the 1976 visit of the Tall Ships to the harbor and photographed the 1977 inauguration of President Jimmy Carter. Colleagues admired his portrait work.
Born in Beverly, W.Va., Mr. Swagger wrote of growing up on a farm where there was no electricity or telephone. "In my world, all of the men were veterans of World War II, every farm had guns and all men and boys were hunters. I knew the territory," he said in a 2007 article in which he described his love of the outdoors and hunting.
He moved to Baltimore and was a 1961 Patterson High School graduate. That year, he became a United Press International telephoto operator and worked in the old News-Post building on Pratt Street. Friends said he learned news photography there, and when a vacancy opened at The Sun in September 1963, he took the job.
"He was always the consummate professional," said Robert Hamilton, the Sun's director of photography. "Swag was unflappable, with a love for his job and his co-workers. He was affable and easy to approach."
Until being named a photo editor for The Sun in 1983, he spent 20 years photographing mayors and governors, ball games and crime scenes. His 1968 riot work included scenes of the National Guard on North Avenue and at the city jail. His 26 photos of the 1980 Preakness were studied by members of the Maryland Racing Commission when a dispute arose between the riders of Codex and Genuine Risk.
"He loved to do everything, a little sports, news or features," said William G. Hotz Sr., a retired Sun photographer who lives in Berlin on the Eastern Shore. "He was a creative person, and it showed in his work."
Mr. Hotz recalled one day when Mr. Swagger put his camera down for a moment and a driver flattened his Rolleiflex.
"Swag just rolled with it and said, 'Well, that's the way it happens,' " Mr. Hotz said.
After working on news assignments for 20 years, Mr. Swagger became an editor and reviewed incoming photos for publication each evening.
"He was happy to share his knowledge of photography with anyone who had an interest," Mr. Hamilton said. "He would take you under his wing."
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Frances Purwin (Younger)
I was fortunate to have become re-acquainted (via e-mail) with Weyman about a year and a half before he died. I'd remembered him from Mrs. Pizanti's (sp?) journalism class and for years wondered if he was the same Swagger that was taking photos for the Sun. Well, he was, and by the time I'd touched base with him, he was no longer an 'active' photographer but instead was the managing photo editor.
Within a few months of touching base with him, Weyman was diagnosed with cancer and the outlook wasn't good. He dealt with that huge challenge with great courage and grace - we stayed in touch throughout, sometimes through his fiancee or daughter.
At one point in our 'conversation' he sent me an attachment of something that he'd written which was published. Since it's been in print for the world to see, I'm sure that he won't mind; I thought you might like to read it......fran
Fran: This was published with the title, “I, Swagger,” a takeoff of the Isaac Asimov story, “I, Robot.”
by Weyman Swagger
Sun Reporter
Does my name sound familiar? It may be because you’ve heard about Shooter, a new film starring Mark Wahlberg as former Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger.
The movie is based on Stephen Hunter’s novel, Point of Impact in which Steve, my colleague and shooting buddy, gave the hero my surname.
In fact, it’s one of six Hunter novels featuring the character Bob Lee Swagger.
But let’s get a few things straight. I don’t look like Mark Wahlberg; I'm much more handsome. (That’s what my girlfriend tells me, and why would I argue?) I have children older than Mr. Wahlberg and I suspect that I look a lot more menacing carrying a rifle than he does, although he’s a good-looking and accomplished actor.
Bob Lee Swagger isn’t my alter ego, either. While I'm a pretty good rifleman and hunter of the practical variety, my shooting and possible courage have never been tested in combat. The only times I've been shot at happened when I was a news photographer covering race riots in the late 1960s.
As a newspaper picture editor my adventures are confined to photos and the printed page, a situation that suits me just fine.
Most of my friends and family members neither know nor care about my connection with Steve's novels, although my daughter Kaity, a 21-year-old college student, has threatened to tell her friends that Mark Wahlberg is playing her dad in a movie. She finds the concept hilarious.
Steve Hunter enjoys sprinkling the names of his friends and co-workers through his novels. In one of his novels an official demands the best investigators available: “Get me Wigler andMarbella
But naming the lead character of a novel after a friend is a step further.
I didn’t know Steve when his Master Sniper was published in 1980 and when it came out I was surprised to find someone in the newsroom who was clearly knowledgeable and enthusiastic about shooting. That hobby wasn’t and isn't politically correct. And neither am I so I knew we could get along.
We talked guns and books and occasionally went to the rifle and pistol range together.
Now no matter how thoroughly he researches (and Steve is very thorough) no writer knows everything, and many call on their friends for advice in special areas.
When he began working on Point of Impact, a story about a country boy turned sniper, it was logical that he turned to me. Steve grew up as a city kid, while as a child I lived on a farm inWest Virginia
When I read the first page of the draft of Impact, I laughed. There was the hero with my name and I thought it was a good joke. But in the following pages it turned out that he was serious.
Swagger’s a pretty good name for a hero. In its current American meaning swagger suggests confidence, a trait we like in the good guy. Since my family background includes German roots I’ve long suspected that Swagger is derived from schweiger, meaning sausage. That tickles my fancy.
Along with Steve's other friends, I’ve helped with or edited all six of the novels that include Bob Lee Swagger, his father, Earl, and Bob's evil half-brother, Lamar Pye. I’ve helped polish the details of Steve's novels, but the rousing stories and the excellent writing are all his.
Although if there’s a Shooter II I guess I’ll be partly to blame. You see, after Steve finished Point of Impact and sent it off to the publisher, I wasn’t quite ready to see my namesake retire.
I wrote a two-page suggestion for a sequel and sent it to Steve.
He rejected that idea out of hand, saying he had done all that he wanted with the character and the situation.
But a couple of days later, Steve had rethought my suggestion. He dashed off an 11-page outline for a new novel, Black Light. The story bore no resemblance to my original idea; it was much better. But with the publication first of Dirty White Boys and then Black Light, the stories of Bob Lee and his family became a series.
And poor Steve may never be able to stop.