E. Craig Sweeten, 100, a Penn 'legend'

E. Craig Sweeten, 100, of Sarasota, Fla., who went to work for the University of Pennsylvania two days after graduating in 1937 and was devoted to the school for 44 years, died Friday, Aug. 7, in Florida.

Mr. Sweeten graduated from the Wharton School and took administrative roles for Penn, culminating in senior vice president for development and university relations. He retired in 1981.

"Craig Sweeten was a legend at Penn," said university president Amy Gutmann. "He dedicated his entire professional life and much of his retirement to his alma mater, and his legacy of service and commitment to the university still inspires so many across campus.

"Craig will be greatly missed by all of us who knew him and deeply cherished his friendship. He lived an extraordinary life and will never be forgotten at Penn."

When he retired in June 1981, Penn's trustees voted to name the alumni office building on Locust Walk the E. Craig Sweeten Alumni House.

Born in Pittsburgh, Mr. Sweeten moved to Philadelphia and graduated from Germantown High School. At Penn, he played soccer for three years, was captain of the 1936 squad, and was inducted into the University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Mr. Sweeten began his career as an alumni field worker with the university's Bicentennial Campaign. In 1940, he was appointed to Penn's placement service as assistant director. He later became director.

A lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserve, he served in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

He was named Penn's director of development in 1956 and became vice president for development and public relations in 1965. For 11 years, he also was responsible for relations with the state, and spent almost as much time in Harrisburg as on campus.

In 1975, Mr. Sweeten was named senior vice president, with responsibility for an ambitious five-year, $225 million fund-raising campaign. The campaign met its goal on time in June 1980.

Mr. Sweeten spent two decades in Skytop, Pa., in the Poconos, where he served as a trustee of East Stroudsburg University and a director of the Pocono Medical Center. He was named Man of the Year by the Greater Pocono Chamber of Commerce.

He moved to Venice, Fla., in the late 1990s and to Bay Village in Sarasota, a long-term continuing-care retirement community, in 2000.

He was married to Nancy Rafetto Sweeten, vice dean of Penn's College of Women and a member of the English department. The two met when he held a chain, allowing her to exit a parking lot on campus late one night. She liked his elegant manners. They were together until her death in 2004.

During his career, he served on the board of directors for Colonial Penn Insurance Co., the Bellevue Stratford, and Walter B. Gallagher Co.

He is survived by daughters Barbara Lynn Schabel and Jane Elizabeth Gillis; a stepson, Douglas E. Leach; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

A memorial service is to be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Aug. 24, at Bay Village, 8400 Vamo Rd., Sarasota. Burial is private.

Donations may be made to Pine Shores Presbyterian Church, 6135 Beechwood Ave., Sarasota, Fla. 34231.