As shown in one of many such family photograps of the close-knit Swaniker kids, Hansen (first left) always had a chuckle. His gentle spirit always shining. Mimi our dearly departed oldest sister was off at school and Johan, our youngest brother was to come a few years later.
Hansen was born on May 7th. 1961, the fourth child of eight children. His parents, the reputable barrister-at-law Herbert Peter LLb, Esq. and Gladys Swaniker were extremely proud of their first born son and set about preparing for his naming ceremony with a celebratory party, a ritual which Hansen also diligently followed when his own sons Hansen Peter Jnr. and Thomas Stie were born. As is customary in the family, all names of family members are carefully selected from a family book which has been in the family for ten generations. When Hansen’s children were born, he called his parents to select a few names from the book for him and his wife Rebecca to make their final selection. This was Hansen’s sense of duty and tradition, which remained a mainstay throughout his life and in any and everything he did; and he instilled these traits in his beloved sons.
Hansen’s three loves were God, family and work. He was a devout Christian who loved the Lord and his teachings. He and Rebecca brought up the boys in a fun-filled Christian home, which involved church fellowships at the homes of other Christians. Hansen’s occasional cooking nights were highly anticipated, and Rebecca and the boys would look on in anticipation as he carefully selected and sprinkled spices to his family’s astonishment. In retrospect, Hansen was simply mimicking his mother’s cooking style, and was chuffed to share the experience with his own family. Hansen played the guitar and piano and and would compose songs about his boys, usually titling them after cartoon characters that reminded him of them. He travelled extensively and would take these compositions with him to listen to during his days away from home. When Hansen was back at home, he could be usually found indoors spending time with the family or out eating with them.
Hansen attended the elite GIS International School for his primary education and continued on to the equally elite Achimota Secondary School for his secondary education, where he excelled academically and made lasting relationships. In 1979, he left his childhood home to study for an unheard of triple-major in Engineering, Mathematics and Physics at the University of West Virginia Wesleyan College. As is typical in the USA, undergraduate study is usually read in one academic subject and only the bold attempt to read for a double-major, but having taken and passed eight ‘O’ Levels and three ‘A’ Levels, taking a multiplicity of subjects did not phase him, and he completed all three subjects in record time. After University, Hansen began his working career as a scientist at Johnson and Johnson where he was offered an option to work at any one of their international offices. Hansen opted to accept an offer at the company’s headquarters in Texas, where he worked for thirteen years.
His proud parents and siblings became accustomed to asking him anytime they called; “Are you in the lab?” which he invariably was and so could not talk. He always made it a point to return every call.
As a fully-fledged scientist with a myriad of patents and inventions to his name, Hansen sought new challenges and took up a new assignment at Covidian/ Tyco Healthcare in Massachusetts, where he worked for eight years as a Principal and Core Team Leader specialising in inventing new wound therapies. Here again, Hansen was instrumental in the research, product identification and development of new wound therapies by identifying and implementing films, plastics, absorbent polymers, cellulosics, specialty fabrics, and adhesives used to aid critically wounded patients.
It was this expertise that led Hansen to his final career move to Bard Access Systems in Salt Lake City, Utah, which heavily head-hunted him for almost a year. By this time, Hansen had become known in the industry as a skilled patented designer and inventor, holding multiple US and international patents for novel medical device designs. He mulled this decision carefully, as he did not want to travel cross country again; but duty to his family led him to accept the position, which he grew to thoroughly enjoy. Rather than disrupt the education of his beloved boys, he went ahead of the family to settle in, and to find good schools for them, as they were beginning to show signs of excelling in maths and science, just like dad, and to find a lovely home for his family in the snow-capped mountains of Utah.
It is poignant to note that even with such a busy career, Hansen was always attentive to his parents and siblings with whom he often spoke, either on the telephone or on their weekly family Skype meetings on Sunday afternoons, which were held to discuss important family matters, but often meandered into banter, sharing jokes, laughter and teasing, with a rushed few minutes dedicated to the important issues meant for discussion. But in all of this, Hansen, still in his calm, methodical manner always found a way to bring us all back to focus on the matters at hand and was very instrumental in all of our recent successes.
Hansen is fondly remembered by his colleagues as a gentle, kind, thoughtful, funny, hardworking and intelligent person who made an impression on many of his coworkers.
Dear Hansen, we cannot believe you are gone. We miss everything about you so much - your voice, your calm, your laughter, your jokes, our arguments about Republicans and Democrats, and your particular brand of prayer. May the angels wrap their wings tightly around you and lead you into the light of our heavenly Father where we will meet you again in gladness and rejoicing.
