James Cataldus Swann, architect and Army veteran, dies at 94

Services will be held on Sunday, June 5, for James Cataldus Swann, an architect and a U.S. Army veteran, who died on March 25, 2020. He was 94.

The third son and fourth child of 14 siblings, he was born Oct. 6, 1925, in Glymont, Charles County, Maryland, to the late Godfrey and Ruth Swann. He graduated from Pomonkey High School in Indian Head, Maryland, in 1943. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944 for active duty in World War II and trained in Texas and Arizona as part of the 332nd Tank Destroyer Battalion. He was sent to England on Dec. 25, 1944. The battalion was later disbanded, and Swann was reassigned to the 3739th Quartermaster Truck Corps, the famed Red Ball Express. He achieved the rank of technical sergeant during his service and was a non-commissioned officer during his time in Europe.

Swann received the Good Conduct and Army Occupation Medals (Germany) European and the African, Middle Eastern Theater and World War II Victory Ribbons.

He returned home to study under the GI Bill at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and worked in the Post Office, earning a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1953.

He married Alice Woodson in 1951 and they later moved to Philadelphia. They were original homesteaders in Concord Park, the country's first intentionally integrated community, when they moved to suburban Trevose, where he helped construct the community playground.

While working with Leon Sullivan and the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC), he designed Progress Plaza, the nation's first all-Black owned and operated shopping center, as director, president and general manager of Progress Development Services Corp. He was also assistant director of architecture for Philadelphia-area Food Fair stores; a partner in Culbreath & Associates, a pioneering Black firm; and, while with Evantash and Friedman, designed the original King of Prussia Plaza Shopping Center.

He was an American Institute of Architects member, had active architectural registration in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, and achieved National Council of Architectural Registration Board (NCARB) certification.

"Jimmy," as he was affectionately known, treasured fishing and boating, a hobby that spanned his lifetime, starting with boats he trailed behind his car to ones that eventually indulged his cherished summertime marina lifestyle, dreading "dry dock" as autumn neared. He also enjoyed holidays, winter cruises and vacation travel to the Caribbean Islands and Mexico, and later volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and drove a bus for special needs children after retirement.

He was preceded in death by his siblings Emogene, Helen, Ledru, Godfrey, Keith, Neale, Carter and Milton.  from his former (33 year) marriage to the late Alice Woodson

He is survived by his siblings Lillian Chatmon, Joyce Terry, Naomi Norde (Michael), Ruth Stanley (Howard) and Robert Swann (Kim); children, Jennifer, Jeffrey (Loreen Liberty), Lauren, Michael (Emily Fleck) and James "Jay" from his former marriage to the late Alice Woodson; grandchildren, Eala Ose, Jeffrey and Allyson; and other family members.

Services were held June 5, at the Salem Harbour Marina Clubhouse, 455 Old Bridge Rd, Bensalem, Pa.

Hancock Funeral Home, Inc. handled the arrangements.