100 Years of The Chi Psi Trust

EDWARD CASSIUS SWIFT, Epsilon 1876 (Michigan), was the first #7 (president) of the twentieth century. An attorney (third generation), he practiced with his father for his early years in his hometown of Ottawa (La Salle), Illinois, southwest of Chicago. He was also a teacher, horticulturist, and farmer, vice president of the First National Bank, trustee of Ryburn Hospital, assistant town supervisor, vice president of the Illinois State Bar Association (and a member of the admissions committee), and a member of the Ottawa board of education. He was elected to the Chi Psi Presidency in 1914. A long-time member of the Executive Council, he chaired that board after his term as #7. “Skipe” Swift was the first Chi Psi leader to foresee the need for a Chi Psi endowment, and he began to raise money for it in 1914, personally soliciting alumni around the country, and reporting his progress annually at Council meetings and Conventions. While The Chi Psi Educational Trust, Inc., first in the Fraternity world, was officially chartered in 1926, it really began life in 1914. Skipe Swift inspired an idea that provides impact 112 years later. In the May 2026 edition of Our Legacy, we will share the materials from the initial endowment campaign that Skipe inspired. Swift and his wife, the former Helen Vincent of Kent, Conn. had two daughters. He died in 1927.