Jeff Swinebroad, who joined the AOU in 1951 and became an Elective Member in 1976, died at the age of 77 on 21 December 2004. Jeff's early career was spent at Douglass College of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Subsequently, he was as an ecologist at the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and, later, the Department of Energy. While at Douglass College, Jeff was an active researcher in various aspects of field ornithology, particularly migration. His work for the AEC and the Department of Energy did not involve research in ornithology.
Jeff was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and became a graduate student of Donald Borror at The Ohio State University. He received his doctorate in 1956 and joined the faculty at Douglass College, where he served as Professor and Department Chair until leaving in 1968.
I first met Jeff in 1966, my first year as a graduate student at Rutgers University, when he was busily engaged in teaching, directing graduate student projects, and serving as Secretary of the Wilson Ornithological Society. I became one of his graduate students and found his level of enthusiasm for teaching and for just talking about birds and ornithology to be wonderfully inspiring. His focus on field ornithology included a liberal share of birding for pleasure and I fondly recall many days scouring New Jersey for migrant birds as well as a winter trip to Massachusetts in search of Snowy Owls and Lapland Longspurs. My fellow graduate students, Jon Greenlaw, James Utter, and Salvatore Bongiorno, went on to either publish with Jeff or complete their doctoral degrees under him. As a junior grad student, I elected to change advisers after Jeff moved to the AEC in 1968.
Jeff's research at Douglass College was field-based. He initiated an ambitious banding program at the Rutgers forest (Hutcheson Memorial Forest) that continued for many years after Jeff left Douglass. He published on various aspects of netting, including construction of aerial nets and frequency of arbovirus infection in netted birds. Jeff had a keen interest in migration and published several reviews of various problems in the study of bird migration. At the time I knew him at Douglass, he was exploring radar ornithology.
Jeff's keen interest in birds never wavered. For many years he taught ornithology and led tours for the Smithsonian Institution as part of the its Resident Associate Program. In recent years, he was highly active with the Audubon Naturalist Society of the Central Atlantic States. His skills as a teacher were widely appreciated as he led birding trips and taught a class in “Bird Life” for the Natural History Field Studies program.
Jeff is survived by his wife of 51 years, Jean Swinebroad, by two children, Amy Arnold of Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, and Eric Swinebroad of Brenham, Texas, and by three grandchildren.
