Obituary of Joanne Swamer Kopp

Joanne Swamer Kopp died on May 1, 2021, at her home in Portland, Oregon, in the presence of her husband James B. Kopp, sister Sandra Swamer Mulligan, and sister-in-law Susan Kopp Haney. She was sixty-seven years old; the cause was cancer. Joanne graduated from Unionville High School (Chester County, Pennsylvania) and earned a BA degree cum laude from Duke University. After earning an MBA degree from Emory University, she was employed as a corporate treasury official by the Coca-Cola Company, Ford New Holland, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. She volunteered for ten years as a reader for Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic and served for eleven years as treasurer and administrator for the American Musical Instrument Society. Joanne was born to Frederic W. Swamer, a research chemist, and Esther T. Swamer, an administrator for the YWCA in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Both parents were enthusiastic amateur musicians. She studied piano from age five to age twenty-one, becoming an able amateur pianist. In later life, she was an avid chamber musician in Hoboken, New Jersey; New York City; and Portland, Oregon. Her husband James is a musicologist, editor, and bassoonist. In addition to her sister Sandra, of Newark, Delaware, and sister-law Susan (Bill Haney) of Eufaula, Alabama, survivors include her brother-in law Kerry P. Kopp (Kay G. Kopp) of Antioch, Tennessee. Memorial donations in the name of Joanne S. Kopp may be made to Providence Portland Medical Foundation, 4805 SE Glisan St., Portland, OR, 97213; or to Providence Hospice Foundation, 6410 NE Halsey St., Portland, OR, 97213.