IMG_1721 Sam Black Photo.tif

SWEDEN — Samuel E. Black, 88, passed away peacefully in hospice care on Sunday, October 11, 2026.

Sam was born in Kankakee, Illinois, and grew up in Rockford, Illinois. In 1955, he graduated valedictorian from Rockford West High School where he was a member of the school’s 1955 State Champion basketball team. He attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison, on a Navy ROTC scholarship, earning degrees in mechanical engineering and naval science in 1959. The same year he was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the U.S. Marine Corps, married his high school sweetheart, fellow Badger Susan Swanson, and began a long and adventurous life as a military family together with daughter Perri (1960) and son Andrew (1961).

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