A force behind Girl Scout cookie sales
JAQUELINE S. SZWARC | March 13, 1947 — Aug. 20, 2018
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
On her 65th birthday, during an unseasonably warm mid-March lunch hour, Jackie Szwarc of Shaler gave away 65 lottery tickets to strangers in Market Square, one ticket at a time.
She dressed down that day, trying not to look like she was selling something. For a woman who had coordinated the annual sale of more than 10,000 Girl Scout cookies in this region for years, she began as timidly as an uncertain swimmer heading for the pool on a cold day.
But as she made her pitch — “today is my birthday; I’m giving out lottery tickets . . .” — hard looks softened and more than one exchange ended with a hug.
“This gives me hope for the world,’’ a construction worker on his break told a reporter that day in 2012.
Ms. Szwarc often gave hope to those she met. She had a Ph.D in psychology that even old friends hadn’t heard about because she preferred her unofficial title as the cookie czarina. She earned that in the Cookie Car she used to drive around Pittsburgh a decade ago, loaded with boxes of sweets and blaring everything from reveille to the Air Force theme.
Ms. Szwarc, 71, died Aug. 20 after a second heart attack on a Shadyside Hospital gurney. Her husband, Ron Szwarc, was at her side and said they were able to exchange these last words:
“She said, ‘I love you, Ron.’ I said, ‘I love you, honey.’ And her eyes closed and she was gone.’’
Ms. Szwarc was born in Columbus, Ohio, the youngest of four siblings. She attended Ohio State University, where she earned a Ph.D in psychology. She married Mr. Szwarc, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and Pittsburgh native, in 2001.
As regional director of cookie sales for the Girl Scouts, she helped send more than 10,000 boxes of cookies to military men and women in war zones each year, one year sending 27,000 boxes of Thin Mints, Do-Si-Dos, Tagalongs and such overseas. She and her colleagues would set up a table in the Strip District, and people would generally buy a box for themselves and another for the troops.
Ms. Szwarc could sing, too. A recording of her music was playing for family and friends at the Hahn Funeral Home in Millvale on Wednesday.
In addition to her husband, Ms. Szwarc is survived by two children, Ryan Hopple of San Luis Obispo, Calif., and Michelle O’Brien of Ketchikan, Alaska; and four granddaughters. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Sojourner House in Pittsburgh, where Ms. Szwarc served on the board of directors.