Jack A. Schwandt

Jack Schwandt, age 94 of Northfield, passed away peacefully at his home on Tuesday evening, June 3, 2025.
Jack was born in Enderlin, North Dakota on August 26, 1930, to Alice B. (Hofland) and Gerald R. Schwandt. He was a devoted son of his hometown and First Lutheran Church.
He was a long-time subscriber to the Enderlin Independent, to which he contributed numerous sketches of boyhood friends and acquaintances.
Jack's father died when Jack was sixteen and a student at the Enderlin High School, from which he graduated in 1948. He then attended Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, from which he graduated in 1952. At Concordia he first encountered Soren Kierkegaard under the tutelage of Professor of Philosophy Reidar Thomte, in whose name Jack recently established a Concordia scholarship for "curious students." Kierkegaard's authorship became a lifelong interest of Jack's and influenced both his teaching and his religious faith. Other Concordia teachers with a lasting influence on Jack were Sidney Rand, subsequently president of St. Olaf College, and the artist Cyrus Running.
Jack continued his education at the University of Minnesota, where he obtained his M.A. and Ph. D. in political science, and where he came under the influence of another Kierkegaard scholar, Prof. Paul Holmer. His graduate work was interrupted by two years of army service in 1956-58.
Jack first taught political science and political philosophy at Oklahoma State University from 1959 to 1961. He joined the St. Olaf faculty in 1963, where he met Pamela Poynter, a teacher in the English department, who was also working on a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. They were married in 1965. For four years they lived in an apartment in the house of Howard and Edna Hong, who became close friends and mentors, and whose work on Kierkegaard they admired immensely. Eventually they moved to Wheatledge, a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired house at 811 Greenvale Avenue, the grounds and plantings of which flourished under Pamela's exceptional care. They also became members of St. John's Lutheran Church. Jack and Pamela shared an interest in eighteenth-century English literature (Pamela's field) and many other matters: Jane Austin, Flannery O'Connor, and Henry James, to name but a few.
Jack taught in the political science department until his retirement in 1996, contributing to the education of countless students. His courses in political philosophy were truly interdisciplinary and encouraged learning about politics in the broadest sense. He held office hours in the student coffee shop, the "cage," and he was always open to conversation about a variety of subjects from politics to literature, to religion, to life. He imbued his students with his own finely nuanced sense of Christian vocation. Some of them became lifelong friends. Some of them followed Jack into academic life. Many of them made significant contributions to their respective fields.
After his retirement in 1996, Jack continued to pursue his academic interests and his writing about friendships, literature, and books. His reading and work were supervised by the beloved cats who shared 811 Greenvale with Jack and Pamela. They had frequent visitors and guests and remained active at St. John's and in the Friends of the Kierkegaard Library, which supported the extensive Kierkegaard collection that Howard and Edna Hong had entrusted to the college. In 2011 Jack published The Hong Kierkegaard Library; a Crown Jewel of St. Olaf College. The book explored the intellectual relationships between the library and the college. Pamela died in 2018 after several years of contending with cancer. Jack continued to live at Wheatledge, and his writing included a set of essays in memory of Pamela.
Jack was eased through his battle with cancer by Brighton Hospice and his devoted care giver, Amie.
Jack is survived by Pamela's sisters Karen Hillger of Garrison, MN, and Susan Chenoweth of Crosby, MN; his son-in-law Patrick Marsh; and Pamela's grandchildren Mercedes, Benjamin, Katie and Sofia Marsh of Maryland.
A memorial service for Jack will be held at 11:00AM, on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, at St. John's Lutheran Church. Visitation will begin at 10:00AM and a reception will follow the service. Interment for Jack & Pam will be in Valley Grove Cemetery, rural Nerstrand.
Memorials may be directed to the Reidar Thomte Scholarship Fund at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, or the donor's choice.
You may watch the service live stream at https://stjohnsnorthfield.org/
Arrangements are with the Bierman, Benson & Langehough Funeral Home & Crematory. www.northfieldfuneral.com