Robert Orville Swados (February 27, 1919 – November 23, 2012) was an attorney and businessman from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, best known for his involvement as an attorney for the US/Canadian

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

and being one of the founders of the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

Career

Along with

Seymour H. Knox III Seymour Horace Knox III (March 9, 1926May 22, 1996) was a philanthropist and sports entrepreneur. He owned the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League from their foundation in 1970 to his death in 1996, and served as chairman of the team. ...

and Northrup R. Knox, he was a partner in Niagara Frontier Hockey, the original consortium that founded the

. The consortium (later joined by

George Strawbridge George Strawbridge (1785 – March 11, 1859) was a justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Louisiana (french: Cour suprême de Louisiane) is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. ...

) sold the team in 1996. Swados was an alumnus of the

State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, fighting on the front lines in the

European theatre The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...

during that war. Swados was part of a group that attempted to form the Continental League, a baseball major league, in 1960, but failed before it started. In addition to his duties as the Sabres' vice chairman, he also served as the secretary to the NHL's Board of Governors and as the general counsel to the league. Outside of hockey, he was a partner in the Cohen Swados law firm, which specialized in corporate, tax and sports law before its disbanding in 2001. Swados was the Chairman of the Hall of Fame for the Sabres. Swados' autobiography, ''Counsel in the Crease'', was published in 2005.

Personal life

Swados was married to poet and actress Sylvia Maisel, with whom he fathered two children, Lincoln and Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Swados Elizabeth Swados (February 5, 1951 – January 5, 2016) was an American writer, composer, musician, and theatre director. Swados received Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Origin ...

is known for her contributions to musical theatre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swados, Robert O. 1919 births 2012 deaths Jewish American military personnel United States Army personnel of World War II Buffalo Sabres owners Continental League contributors Harvard Law School alumni Lawyers from Buffalo, New York University at Buffalo alumni Businesspeople from Buffalo, New York 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American Jews