Robert Swadell, Henderson, Pahrump ‘visionary,’ dies
Henderson's downtown justice facility bears his name, but Robert A. Swadell also had his fingers in a host of other projects that continue to shape Henderson and Pahrump.
The man described by one Henderson official as a "visionary behind the scenes" died Sunday. He was 77.
In the almost three decades Swadell lived in Henderson, he served on the building committees that oversaw construction of the city's convention center, main administrative offices, emergency services headquarters and animal shelter. The justice facility on Water Street was dedicated in his name in 1994.
Swadell also played a role in getting Lake Las Vegas off the ground, and was instrumental in the creation of the city's Veterans Memorial Wall, which lists the names of deceased veterans from Henderson.
City spokeswoman Cindy Herman, who knew Swadell for years, described him as a "frontiersman" who could always see the potential in things.
"Bob had a way of making these projects come to life," she said.
When he and Mary, Swadell's wife of 52 years, moved to Pahrump in 2004, he turned his community-building skills loose on that burgeoning town.
Actually, his work started before he moved there, when he pushed for safety improvements on the highway between Pahrump and Las Vegas and for a boundary change with Clark County that made sure all of Pahrump's private land was in Nye County.
"He sort of did out here what he did in Henderson," said friend Ron Kent, who is chief deputy district attorney for Nye County.
More recently, Swadell played a large role in Pahrump's push for a community college campus.
"He never gave it up. He worked on that over 12 years," Kent said.
Swadell was born June 18, 1931, in Fort Bragg, Calif.
He lived and worked all over the world, first as the son of a military chaplain and later as an officer in the Army. After combat tours in Korea and Vietnam, he retired in 1972 as a lieutenant colonel but continued to work for the government in communications and intelligence as a civilian.
He settled in Henderson in 1975.
Swadell will be buried at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City after a private family service.
A public memorial will be held at 11 a.m. April 19 at the Henderson Convention Center he helped build.
The family requests donations to the Robert A. Swadell memorial account at Nevada State Bank in Pahrump, which will benefit the town's only hospital.
Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.
