Kim Swan

Early life

Swan is the eldest son of working class parents, Hubert E. E. Swan (a career police officer) and Barbara Swan of Southampton. He spent a great deal of his formative years in the presence of his maternal grandparents John and Ivy Anderson; John a stonemason and fisherman and Ivy a devout member of Mount Zion AME Church, the eldest daughter of Irishman Isaac McKinley "Ike" Hall and Emily Burrows Hall from Southampton. Through his paternal grandfather, Swan is also 6th generation descendant of Charles Roach Ratteray (1799–1872), a renowned ship builder, entrepreneur and pioneer of the AME Church in Bermuda. Swan's paternal grandmother Ismay Agatha Swan came to Bermuda from St. Kitts at 15 to join her mother Emily Cardin Rose.

Swan attended Southampton Glebe, Berkeley Institute and Warwick Secondary Schools in Bermuda before receiving his tertiary education at Palm Beach Junior College (now Palm Beach State College) in Lake Worth, Florida and graduated with a bachelor of science degree from Troy University in Troy, Alabama in 1980.

Golf career

Swan was taught the game of golf by his uncle, Herman Santucci Bascome, a former golf pro at Ocean View Golf Course in Bermuda, while growing up at the newly developed government-owned Port Royal Golf Course in the early 1970s. Swan was a member of the then Palm Beach Junior College golf team led by Ken Green, which finished 4th in the State Junior College Championship in 1978, before joining Troy State University golf team. Individually, he won medalist honours at the Northeast Louisiana University Invitational at Chenault Park Municipal Golf Course in Monroe, Louisiana. Swan played under legendary golf coach Mike Griffin at Troy. Swan lead the Troy team that placed 4th in 1979 NCAA Division II Golf Championship at El Macero Country Club in Davis, California and was named MVP for Troy University in 1979.

As an amateur golfer, Swan also participated in numerous major amateur events including the 1974 Orange Bowl Junior Championship in Miami, Florida and two World Amateur Team Championship (Eisenhower Trophy) competitions in 1978 in Fiji and 1980 in the United States.

He turned professional in 1980. Swan qualified for the European Tour in 1980 and competed for two years. He would partner with fellow Bermudian Keith Smith to win the Americas Zone qualifying of the World Cup of Golf in 1984 and three Bermuda Open Golf Championships.

Swan is currently the teaching golf professional at Port Royal Golf Course since 2012. As the teaching golf professional, Swan is an independent contractor who developed the Port Royal Golf Developmental Program which concentrates on introducing new golfers to the game of golf. As a golf coach/teacher Swan is a strong advocate of the fundamentals and uses a myriad of drills to teach his students their skills.

Political career

Swan contested four general elections over a 25-year period before winning a seat in the House of Assembly of Bermuda in December 2007. Swan served the UBP in the Senate of Bermuda for 9 years (1998–2007) and became Opposition Senate Leader in 2001 and served as Senate Leader under four Opposition Leaders until his election to Parliament. Following his election to the Bermuda House of Assembly on 18 December 2007, Swan became Leader of the Party and on 21 January 2008 was sworn in as Leader of the Opposition by the Governor of Bermuda, Sir Richard Gozney and served until 16 May 2011.

The United Bermuda Party was in negotiations with the Bermuda Democratic Alliance. Following a vote by the Central Council of the United Bermuda Party to disband on 3 May 2011, several general members of the United Bermuda Party expressed concern that there were no special general meeting in any of the 36 branches. Swan and others petitioned the party executive to hold a public meeting, these pleas were ignored. When Swan and the others attempts to convene a disputes tribunal under section 13 of the United Bermuda Party constitution were also ignored by the party executive, Swan together with Charles Swan MP, three other former Party Chairman and others on 10 May 2011 successfully filed an injunction in the courts preventing the United Bermuda Party from disbanding.

On 15 May 2011 Swan was notified that seven members of his eight parliamentary colleagues had resigned to form the merger with the Bermuda Democratic Alliance. Swan immediately notified the Governor of Bermuda Sir Richard Gozney and resigned as Leader of the Opposition. Swan and the others decided to drop the injunction to permit the United Bermuda Party executive to settle its affairs. However, he continued to represent the ideals of the United Bermuda Party in the House of Assembly and said he planned to rebuild the Party. When the House of Assembly was dissolved for the 17 December 2012 election, he ran as an independent but finished third receiving 23% of the vote behind the 39% garnered by the new One Bermuda Alliance who narrowly bested the 38% received by the Progressive Labour Party candidate, in the only constituency where the winner received less than 40% of the votes cast.