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Jeff Swanagan, 52, the man who helped start the financial turnaround at the Florida Aquarium in downtown Tampa as its former director, has died in Columbus, Ohio of an apparent heart attack.
Swanagan moved to Atlanta to head the Georgia Aquarium. He recently married Suzy Holley, a Tampa marketing executive, and the two were merging their families.
Known by friends in the business community as Swanee, Swanagan was the soft-spoken fish expert who breathed new life into the education experience of the aquarium and started new programs before being succeeded by Thom Stork, former head of marketing at Busch Gardens.
Swanagan, a graduate of Leadership Tampa, had an easy manner and sense of humor, once dressing as a leafy sea dragon, a marine creature at the aquarium, for an aquarium costume party fundraiser.
Stork and Paul Catoe, head of the Tampa convention and visitors bureau, are planning an Aug. 8, 6 p.m. memorial for Swanagan in the Taylor Great Room at the Aquarium. Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and former Mayor Dick Greco are expected to attend.
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