Earl R. Swanson, 94, of Savoy passed away at 2:25 P.M. on Thursday, July 2, 2015 at his home. A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Friday, July 10, 2015 at Grace Lutheran Church, Champaign. Before the Memorial Service Earl's family will be greeting guests, starting at 9:30 A.M. until the service begins.

Earl R. Swanson was born May 26, 1921 on the Nels Swanson Farm near Reilly in Vermilion County, Illinois. He was the son of S. Gustaf Swanson and Alice Erikson Swanson. He married Janice E. (Becky) Beckstrom on June 23, 1951 in Rock Island, IL. She passed away April 29, 2014. He was also preceded in death by a son, Rolf, on September 3, 2001. Surviving are a son, Paul (Phyllis) Swanson of Indianapolis, a daughter, Ann (Mikel) O'Klock of Moline, three grandchildren, Sarah (Nate) Nickel, Jonathon (Ashleigh) Swanson, Erika Swanson, and four great grand-daughters, Kaydence, Isabella, Payge and Samantha.

Mr. Swanson spent his childhood on the Erikson Farm between East Lynn and Rankin, also in Vermilion County. He attended grade and high school in East Lynn and graduated with highest honors from the University of Illinois, College of Agriculture in 1943.

During WWII he served as an infantry platoon leader with the 25th (Tropic Lightening) Division in Luzon, Philippine Islands. He farmed with his father on the Erikson Farm from May 1946 to September 1947. He received a M.S. degree in Agriculture Economics from the University of Minnesota in 1948 and a Ph.D degree in Agriculture Economics from Iowa State University in 1951. In 1948 he attended summer school at University of Oslo, Norway.

He joined the Department of Agriculture Economics, University of Illinois in 1950 and taught farm management until being recalled to active duty during the Korean Conflict. He served in the U.S. Army as a Captain in the Office of Assistant Chief of Staff, G-4 in Washington, D.C.

Returning to the University of Illinois in 1952, he remained on the faculty of the Department of Agriculture Economics until retirement in 1984. His teaching and research dealt with the productivity of resources used in agriculture. His early research was primarily in farm management, but later turned to the relationship between public policy and individual farmer decisions in soil conservation, fertilizer and pesticide use. He served as Associate Head of the Department of Agriculture Economics 1968-70 and Acting Head 1974-75. He published over 100 articles in journals and chapters in books and was thesis supervisor to more than twenty doctoral candidates.

His 1955 article in American Miler and Processor demonstrated to the animal feed industry the usefulness of a relatively new mathematical technique: linear programming. This technique provides a solution to finding the ingredient mix which satisfies a large number of nutritional requirements at a minimum cost. Due to the large number of variables involved, an electronic computer is needed. Fortunately, Illiac was available in 1955 at the University of Illinois. Today, linear programming has almost universal use in the animal feed industry.

Mr. Swanson was Visiting Professor at Hokkaido University, Japan in the summer of 1958 and during 1958-59; he was a Senior Fulbright Research Scholar at the Royal College of Agriculture in Denmark. He participated in the US-USSR Cultural Exchange Program in 1963, lecturing at Moscow State University and Leningrad State University. He was a Ford Foundation consultant at Uttar Pradesh Agriculture University in India in 1968. In 1976 he was a Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria and was Visiting Professor at the Institute of Economics and Statistics, Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences in 1984.

Government service included membership on advisory committees to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Defense, National Academy of Sciences, and to the Agency for International Development of the Department of State. He participated in agricultural assistance evaluations in Egypt, Mexico and the islands of Antigua and St. Vincent in the West Indies.

Mr. Swanson served as Editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics 1965-68 and was elected a Fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association in 1977. In 1978 he received the Quality of Communication Award from the American Agricultural Economics Association. He received the University Of Illinois College Of Agriculture Alumni Award Of Merit in 1976 and the Paul A. Funk Award in 1977. He was a member of Grace Lutheran Church, the Heimskringla Society, Nabor House Fraternity and the Champaign Lion's Club.

Memorial Contributions may be made to Grace Lutheran Church, Champaign or to the Earl R. and Janice E. Swanson Excellence Fund in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, at the University of Illinois Foundqation, 1305 W. Green St. Urbana, IL 61801.