Mike Swoboda

After an improbable recovery from two gunshot wounds to his head seven months ago in the shooting rampage at Kirkwood City Hall, former Mayor Mike Swoboda died Saturday morning (Sept. 6, 2008) from complications related to those injuries.

With his family alongside him, Mr. Swoboda died at a hospice on the campus of St. Anthony's Medical Center in south St. Louis County. He entered the hospice Wednesday following a rapid decline in his health. His son, Michael Swoboda, said his father's passing was peaceful.

Mr. Swoboda's death was related to the gunshot wounds and complications that arose from the injuries, his son said.

The former mayor would have turned 70 later this month.

Mr. Swoboda was shot during the rampage Feb. 7 at Kirkwood City Hall in which five of the city's public servants and the gunman, Charles "Cookie" Thornton, were killed. Mr. Swoboda's survival seemed unlikely, but three weeks after the shootings, he was released to a rehabilitation hospital, and a month after that he went home.

Mr. Swoboda's recovery, which family and friends labeled "amazing," became symbolic to many and was closely watched by residents of Kirkwood and beyond.

"Somehow people got behind his recovery," Michael Swoboda said. "It was wonderful."

Tom Noonan, a close family friend and former Kirkwood deputy mayor, added: "His recovery led the community's recovery from the tragedy itself."

Kirkwood Mayor Art McDonnell and police Chief Jack Plummer talked about the former mayor in a short news conference Saturday afternoon in front of City Hall.

"It was a sad phone call this morning," said McDonnell, who was in the City Hall council chambers during the shootings but escaped injury. "It brings back lots of memories of February and it makes you cry and breaks your heart on the inside when you think about it. ... But I'm glad he's at peace now."

The flags in front of City Hall and in the plaza across Kirkwood Road were lowered to half-staff in memory of the former mayor. McDonnell asked that others across the city also be lowered until after the funeral services.

One of the goals Mr. Swoboda set for himself in his recovery was a return to City Hall for his final council meeting as mayor, a goal he achieved 2 1/2 months after the shootings, on April 17.

The event packed the council chambers, left few dry eyes and featured several standing ovations for the mayor. Mr. Swoboda told the gathering, "There is no place I'd rather be," and then spoke of the tragedy he had been left with no memory of.

"A terrible thing happened in this room," he said, "but this is a community that knows how to recover, how to love. ... Kirkwood is a strong and beautiful place. Let us always work to keep it that way forever."

The next month, Mr. Swoboda's recovery took a significant step back due to a fall at his home in which he fractured his skull. The injury and related complications led to a handful of hospital stays until last week, when he was admitted to the hospice.

"He was emphatic and enthusiastic all through his recovery," Noonan said. "He lived those last seven months as fully as he possibly could have. ... And his seven months gave everyone a chance to show him their gratitude for his service to the community."

Michael Swoboda said his father went to rehabilitation therapy as recently as last month. "I've thought of my dad as a guy who just keeps persevering," he said. "Whether or not he could do it, he just had a can-do attitude. Just think about that: wanting to go to therapy in mid-August. That is amazing."

Mr. Swoboda served four terms on the Kirkwood City Council before he first was elected mayor in 2000. He served as the city's deputy mayor, a finance commissioner and a police/fire commissioner. He also served as president of the St. Louis County Municipal League during the late 1990s, and was a board member with the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council and a member of the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Steering Committee for the National League of Cities.

Mr. Swoboda also was well-known for his years of volunteer work in the community. "I don't think you could tally up the volunteer work and hours of public service," his son said. "He thrived on doing that sort of thing. With him, it's his reason for being."

Mr. Swoboda grew up in north St. Louis County. He graduated from what was then the Missouri School of Mines in Rolla, Mo., with a degree in engineering.

As a young man, Mr. Swoboda worked for Southwestern Bell, but he spent most of his career with Monsanto Co., where he was a manager of information systems on his retirement.

Mr. Swoboda was married for 42 years to Sue Swoboda. The couple had two children and lived in an old farmhouse in Kirkwood in which Sue Swoboda was raised.

Mr. Swoboda loved gardening, coaching his son's soccer and basketball teams and volunteering at Kirkwood's Robinson Elementary School, where he talked to students about history and citizenship. His son has joked that kids showed up at their home to play with his father as much as, if not more than, they came to play with him.

Mr. Swoboda also loved history and was especially fond of history-focused driving trips he and his son would take all over the country. The two had planned a vacation to Ireland in spring 2008 to mark the end of the elder Swoboda's years of public service and the younger Swoboda's completion of graduate school. The shootings forced them to cancel the trip.

In April, a day after Mr. Swoboda spoke in the council's chambers, he assured his family there would be more trips. "This summer," he told them.

He told of how he, Michael and Funizwe Gaines - a 9-year-old boy he and his wife long have treated as their grandson - were going to go fishing. "Funi is going to catch a trout," Mr. Swoboda proclaimed as he sat at his dining room table.

In August, the trio and Funi's maternal grandfather took a drive to Meramec State Park to go fishing. Mr. Swoboda watched from a wheelchair, and no one caught any fish, but the day marked a milestone nonetheless, as did short drives Michael took with his father to Augusta, downtown St. Louis, the art museum and even Ted Drewes, his son said.

In addition to his wife and son, both of Kirkwood, and Funi, of Washington, D.C., among the survivors is his daughter, Katy Hutchison of Valley Park.