Richard Lewis Swig; Hotelier, Philanthropist
Richard Lewis Swig, the prominent San Francisco hotelier and philanthropist who presided over his family’s Fairmont Hotels chain, has died after a long battle with heart disease. He was 72.
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown’s office ordered all flags on San Francisco buildings flown at half-staff in honor of Swig, who died Thursday at California Pacific Medical Center.
Flags will also fly at half-staff on the Fairmont Hotels in San Francisco, San Jose, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, Boston and New York until Swig’s funeral Sunday.
Born in Boston, Swig was the son of real estate investor Benjamin Swig, who bought the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, then moved his family to California.
After serving in the Navy during World War II, Richard Swig joined the family-owned San Francisco Fairmont, which became the flagship of the luxury chain. For five decades he stressed hospitality on a grand scale.
In Southern California, the Swigs bought the landmark Mission Inn in Riverside in 1956 and created controversy in 1971 by closing the historic hotel and auctioning off its antiques when they were faced with plummeting revenues. They later sold the hotel.
As a philanthropist, Richard Swig supported a wide range of causes and received numerous awards for his donations, among them the Mahatma Gandhi Humanitarian Award, the Golda Meir Award and the U.S. Coast Guard’s Distinguished Public Service Award.
He served as trustee, chairman or board member of more than 40 charitable, professional and educational institutions, including the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, the Jewish Community Federation, the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning, the Leukemia Society of America, the University of Santa Clara, the University of San Francisco’s McLaren School of Business, the White House Conference on Travel and Tourism, and the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Swig is survived by his wife of 47 years, Roselyne “Cissie” Swig of San Francisco; his son, Rick Swig of San Francisco; daughters Susan Watkins of San Francisco, Marjorie Swig of Greenbrae, Calif., and Carol Sedlack of Sun Valley, Idaho; and 12 grandchildren.
Services will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco.
