A painter in oil, watercolor and pastels of subjects ranging from still lifes to street and industrial scenes to landscapes and portraits, John Swalley was born in Toledo, Ohio. He showed early art talent, illustrating jokes for his high school newspaper and doing art work for his year book and art paper at Amherst College. Although he had obvious talent and earned much local reputation, he was basically a person who painted only in his spare time because of his need to earn a regular salary.

After graduation, he returned to Toledo and became advertising manager for the Lion Store. Later in was a partner in forming the Publisher's Press Company and served as President and Manager and eventually Owner. In the late 1940s, he retired to...