Lou Swetsky was the youngest of four children of Sarah and Benjamin Swetsky. From his early years, he was fascinated with electronics. He built crystal radios from scratch, an intercom for the house to enable his mother, who was in a wheelchair, to be in touch easily, and a system to play music at high-school dances. Over his lifetime he built small electrical gizmos including a homemade burglar alarm.
These electronics skills led Lou to become a radio operator in the Royal Canadian Air Force, serving as a flying officer throughout the Second World War. Everyone thought electronics would be his life's work, but he chose another route to success.
While on a visit to Toronto, Lou met Gladys Lubek. They married in 1948 and Lou brought her back to the Maritimes to live in Fredericton. Gladys must have really been in love to leave the big city, but Lou did look like a movie star in his Air Force uniform. He was a party guy, but once married, he quickly settled down to become a serious family man and provider.
In Fredericton, Lou operated the Tiny Tots Wear children's clothing store with his sister Freda Budovitch. They believed that parents would go without some things in order to dress their children well, and the store was a success.
Son Eric and daughter Barbara soon came along and Lou was looking for ways to use his flair for retailing to support his growing family. The big clothing chains had not yet come to Fredericton and there were no malls. He saw the opportunity and opened Teenager and Career Fashions, catering to two strong markets. He put together his own newspaper ads in The Daily Gleaner and wrote and delivered his own radio commercials.
With his hard work came success and a life defined by an affable nature, polished manner and strong ethics. Lou developed a profile beyond the small Fredericton Jewish community, where he served as president of B'nai Brith. He was the first Jewish man in Fredericton to be invited to join Rotary and served as chair of the annual Rotary Radio Auction fundraiser, where he was also one of the auction's on-air hosts.
Lou was always a deep thinker. So it was not surprising that in his retirement, when his peers were on the golf course, he took university courses instead. He studied ethics, religion and philosophy while wintering in Florida and at the University of New Brunswick in the summer. He also studied texts pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history, often writing his own interpretations of passages, which gave him immense satisfaction. Lou was a real thinker and gentleman until his last breath.
Ron Sloan is Lou's son-in-law.