Former Star Tribune arts editor John Habich was traveling to Paris in 1989 when a mutual friend suggested he meet up with former Walker Art Center chief curator Dean Swanson, who was also visiting.
"He was dealing in antiquarian prints, so I contacted him and asked could I follow him around for a day," Habich said.
Their meeting resulted in a story about Swanson's findings on the Left Bank. A few years later they met again in Paris, but they didn't become close until 1994, when each of their mothers died and they found themselves going through similar emotional processing. That connection transformed into a special lifelong friendship.
"He was a single gay man with no siblings, and there were no social-support traditions for anybody in that position," he said. "So when my future husband, Andrew, asked me to move to New York, I told him that I planned to take care of Dean when he grew old."
When their son George was born, Swanson became his bonpapa, French for "grandpa." Eight years ago, he moved to New York City and they lived together as a family.
Swanson died peacefully in his sleep Aug. 24, three weeks shy of his 87th birthday. Before going to bed, he got the usual good-night hug and kiss from George. "He looked up at me with a big grin and said, 'I'm so lucky' — which turned out to be his last words," Habich said.
Born in Mendota Heights to a couple who owned a camera shop in downtown St. Paul, he cemented his Francophile status at the University of Minnesota, majoring in French with minors in French history and art history.
He joined Walker Art Center in 1961 during the heady days when longtime director Martin Friedman put it on the international art world's map, working his way up to the post of chief curator a decade later.
