10 Things to Know About Baltimore Native Neil Sweren
Neil recalls relocating to Owings Mills when he was a teen, long before highways, busy shopping centers, townhomes and a variety of restaurants.
As co-chair of Generations, Conversations and Community, a local group launched by AgeWell Baltimore and area synagogues, Neil says he has always lived within ten miles from his home today.
Here are 10 things to know about Neil Sweren.
1. Neil grew up in Randallstown prior to moving to Owings Mills near the JCC after 6th grade.
“When we moved to Owings Mills, I remember my parents’ friends saying, ‘you’re moving where?’ I was one of only a few Jewish kids in my grade – it was a relatively small Jewish population when we moved there. We felt like we had moved out to the country.”
2. But living within walking distance from the Owings Mills JCC was a bonus.
“I don’t know if it had anything to do with my parents’ decision to move out to Owings Mills at the time, but it was incredible having the JCC so close. My parents both worked so my brother and I would walk there often to swim and play tennis. It was our country club.”
3. Neil believes that the independence he had when he was young and in elementary school helped give him the skills he needed for life.
“I’m proud of the fact that when we were kids, our parents gave us a chance to be independent… and to fail. It’s something we see less of today. We came home from school, did our homework, then disappeared for a few hours with friends. There was no tracking back then, my mother would say to just be home by dark. As it got late, you would hear people’s parents yelling for them out the front door.”
4. He attended Towson University where he met his wife Sherri and business partner, Scott Eisgrau. Neil has been in retail residential mortgage lending since graduating college.
5. For the past 16 years, Neil has shifted his focus to helping older adults age in place.
“It started years ago when my sister-in-law asked me to look into a reverse mortgage for her parents in Florida. I first tried to talk her out of it but she insisted I do the research for her. What I learned was that this loan program was grossly misunderstood and that there wasn’t really any other product on the market that could do more to help homeowners and home buyers at that stage of their lives. Before long, it became the focus of my business. Helping older adults with aging in place strategies is tremendously rewarding work. The work we do with our clients is life changing in a positive way and provides a meaningful improvement in their finances and overall quality of life. Working with this age cohort often requires patience but it has been a great match for me.”
6. Together with co-founder David Harrison, Neil helped create Generations, Conversations and Community (GCC) – a peer to peer group that provides valuable resources for aging individuals and their families.
“David and I learned over coffee one day that we had some similar experiences and frustrations in helping to care for our own family members and we both felt a little lost. For example, what do you do if you think driving might not be a good idea anymore? What is the best way to start that conversation? What about finding appropriate housing options? Thinking about my own experience, my mother, who had worked for the Department of Aging, assumed that my grandmother would go into some sort of assisted living facility, but she didn’t really know anything about the process or finances. With GCC and through AgeWell Baltimore, we are hoping to provide a forum where people can share experiences, resources and information. We can help each other, and we have the help of AgeWell and other agencies as well.”
7. He has two children, both graduates of Beth Tfiloh – his daughter Rachel, a UMD graduate who recently spent time overseas working for an NGO supporting a refugee camp in Greece. And his son Ryan, who graduated from UMD in May and hopes to start dental school in the fall.
8. Neil says sending his kids to a Jewish day school really started him on his own Jewish journey.
“In addition to providing them with an incredible education, it gave us a gift I don’t think I can ever repay. It changed nearly every aspect of our lives in a positive way and made us part of a community we didn’t really know existed. What they don’t tell you when you send your kids to a Jewish day school, is the education that you will receive as well.”
9. Neil thinks about retirement. A lot.
“Many of my clients are retired so it gets me thinking about what my own retirement might look like. Typically, people start to imagine retirement when they’re 10 or so years away, we’re in that range give or take. We’d like to do a lot of traveling. Places like Thailand and Vietnam. Exploring Asia is on our bucket list.”
10. Neil is an avid cyclist and believes in staying active and eating healthy and being active members in the community.
“A friend once jokingly said that exercising and eating healthy guarantees that you’ll die healthier. That is true and there are no guarantees, but why not do what we can to give ourselves the best odds of living longer and healthier with a best possible quality of life.”
AgeWell Baltimore, a collaborative initiative by The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, Comprehensive Housing Assistance Inc. (CHAI), CHANA and Jewish Community Services (JCS), aims to support older adults, caregivers and community members in fostering healthy aging.This Centennial initiative is made possible through the generous support of Irene and Robert Russel and family, and the Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Charitable Foundation.
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