The typical resume of a student enrolled in a diesel hydraulics class does not include a Ph.D., a Doctorate in Osteopathy, a commercial pilot’s license and ownership of a grocery wholesale trucking company.
However, these accomplishments are those of 66-year-old Ronald Swanson, enrolled at Northern Maine Community College (NMCC), Presque Isle, ME.
Swanson’s first of many careers began after he earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Chicago in 1968, spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University and then joined the faculty of the department of biology at the University of Virginia.
Five years later, in 1975, he ventured into trucking. “Since my great-grandfather was Claus Claussen, the founder of Claussen Pickles, I thought I’d like to work in the food industry, so I bought a wholesale trucking company in Florida and worked in that industry for 10 years,” Swanson said.
When asked what he learned from his time in trucking, Swanson said, “I should have learned how to be a technician then because I used all older trucks that required a lot of maintenance. So at one point I finally just leased trucks and had the service performed for me.
“I also learned that you have to be a big guy to survive. Eventually, competition with much larger companies forced me to look again for a new line of work.”
Swanson wanted a change and turned to a different mode of transportation, and in 1985, earned his commercial pilot’s license. He worked for two years as a flight instructor/commercial pilot.
