When all eyes are on the clock waiting for the stroke of midnight and Auld Lang Syne - he's sitting on his bench in the park. When the icy artic blasts sting exposed cheeks - he's sitting on his bench. When cold rains pelt umbrellas - he's sitting on his bench. When spring breezes gently bend tulip blossoms - he's sitting on his bench. When the haze of humidity and blistering heat obscure his view of Rensselaer and make it shimmer - he's sitting on his bench in the shade. He's there on hot August nights, he holds fast when falling leaves blow around in October, he enjoys the crisp clear air and blue deep blue skies of a Canadian air mass in November. He's there as the first rays of sun inch up the hill every morning. He's there when the last rays drop behind his shoulder. He is, after all, "A Man for All Seasons."

To be sure, there are other men standing in Parks around the city, often striking heroic poses and stoically keeping their watch in all weather. Philip Schuyler stands boldly in front of City Hall while across the street Sheridan sits astride his horse at the foot of the Capitol steps. Joseph Henry scowls in Academy park, Moses has arms raised in Washington Park and former Mayor Whalen strokes his Golden Retriever while sitting on a park bench in Tri-centennial Park. Anonymous men and women grace memorials around the Empire State Plaza. All are either well known individuals or symbolic of those who have sacrificed all for country, state, or community.

Then there is Lewis A Swyer, forever perched, hat in hand, on a bench shaded by a maple tree in Academy Park. The bronze pigeon under his bench is gone leaving only his feet as a reminder of his former presence. Surely such a place was given him because he was a great academic or scientist like his neighbor Joseph Henry - well no he wasn't. So then he must have been a great military man like Schuyler or Sheridan - no not that either. How about a political leader - his statue is similar in design to Mayor Whalen's - no. The dates 1918 - 1988 on his base rule out Biblical figure. His statue has no indication that it honors the fallen in any cause.

So who is Lew Swyer and why is he cast in bronze? His December 27, 1988 obituary (included below) indicates a man who exceeded the normal, but is brief and doesn't seem to be the summary of a life warranting statuary. Yet he has a nature preserve on the Hudson River named after him, a theater in Albany, a shelter for youth, a school for performing arts in Saratoga, a lecture and workshop series at Albany Law School, an endowed scholarship at St Rose, a scholarship at Skidmore, and his own statue in Academy Park. I suspect that the full story of Lew Swyer warrant more than the 6 sentences in his obituary.

When I got the idea to put together a calendar for a few friends, centered on a year in the life of a statue, I hadn't singled one statue out. I had a few shots of various statues and spent about a month looking at various statues. I picked Lew Swyer for his shaded, grassy location - a setting that was more tranquil than most of the other choices in Albany. Over the course of a year, mostly during lunch breaks I gathered about 100 images. To do a better study would require time at other hours and on weekends that I did not have to devote to the project.

Not knowing much about my subject, I wondered - was the real Lew Swyer "A Man For All Seasons", as my project title suggests? A few minutes searching on the Internet has me convinced that he most likely was - but a real biography has eluded me.