Arthur Swanson

On January 28 2023, we lost our founding law partner and former WSAJ (then WSTLA) President Art Swanson. Despite his "retirement" in the late 1990s, Art was involved with the work and life of our firm on a weekly basis and we will all dearly miss his love and guidance. In addition to serving as WSTLA President in the early 1970s, Art was a frequent and respected CLE speaker and worked with Dan Sullivan to organize the Amicus program. In the 1990s, Art helped launch the WSAJ Foundation. Gerhard Letzing recalls that Art (a lifelog “car guy”) was also responsible for the most unique charitable donation to the organization – a Volkswagen “Thing” which was later sold to benefit the organization. Art attended Valley High School (now Willapa Valley Middle School) in Raymond where he played basketball and football despite contracting polio at the age of 15, which compromised one of his legs. As a sophomore in high school, Art had the good fortune to take a biology class taught by attorney James Duree, who was waiting to take the state bar exam. Mr. Duree inspired Art become a lawyer. Art went straight to Washington State University out of high school and graduated in 1956. He was in the Air Force ROTC, but served in the US Army after the Air Force washed him out because of his leg. In the Army, Art proved to be a talented rifleman and made the Fourth Army Rifle Team, competing in the nationals at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. He was proud of his military service, and the walls of his office here at the firm have always displayed his medals and other momentos of his time in the Army. Art worked for a short time as an insurance adjuster for Crawford & Company before attending law school at the University of Washington, graduating in 1963. He then served in the King County Prosecutor’s Office, working for Charles O. Carroll where he met several attorneys who became lifelong friends, including Bill Kinzel and Fred Meyers. Later, Art left and worked as a partner in firms with Gerry Shellan and Stan Stone.