EDDA LYA SWART-GILLEN

1941 - 2020

SWART-GILLEN--Edda Lya 1941-2020 Known to family and friends as "GlamMa," Edda Lya Swart-Gillen, a model of elegance and style, who dedicated her life to supporting family, the disadvantaged, and the arts, died on April 3, 2020. Born in Panama, one of four children of Francisco and Lily Pacheco, she later moved to Colombia, and then to the United States in 1957. She was a Gazette Girl beauty contest winner at Uppsala College, where she received a bachelor's in psychology in 1964. Edda went on to achieve her master's in counseling from New York University in 1972. Edda married property management executive Neil Swart, of Tenafly, NJ, in 1968. They moved to Mahwah, NJ, and, in 1972, their son Cornelius "Neil" Gerrit Swart was born. Edda spent her professional life working with the disabled and disadvantaged. In 1978, she became the director of the nation's largest multiservice rehabilitation center for the disabled, Mount Carmel Guild of Newark, NJ. In 1992, Edda married Prudential General Counsel James Gillen of Morristown, NJ. She retired the following year but continued her charitable work on nonprofit boards. A passionate and erudite woman, Edda was an unswervingly supportive friend, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and aunt. In later years, few things gave her more joy than doting on her granddaughter, Galatea Swart, and tending to her menagerie of rare finches, parakeets, and canaries. In all things and at all times, she displayed a sense of glamour and aplomb. Edda had a lifelong love of literature and the arts. She and James were supporters of the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and were regular fixtures at galas and openings. Contributions in her name may be made to New Jersey Audubon https://njaudubon.org/ways-to-give/#memorial-tribute-gifts.