In late 2025, the Whiting School lost three esteemed members of its alumni community: L. Gordon Croft, Engr ’56, Richard A. Swirnow, Engr ’55, and Michael J. Zinner, Engr ’67. Croft passed away on September 5; Swirnow passed away on October 1; and Zinner passed away on October 25.
“The passing of these three friends and advisors, L. Gordon Croft, Richard Swirnow, and Michael Zinner, leaves a profound void in the Johns Hopkins community,” says Ed Schlesinger, Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the Whiting School. “Each of them embodied the spirit of inquiry, compassion, and service that defines a Johns Hopkins education. They not only excelled in their respective fields but also enriched the lives of those around them through mentorship, advocacy, and creativity. As alumni, they contributed in meaningful, tangible ways to the university’s mission, inspired countless students, and directly supported and contributed to groundbreaking research. Their impacts will be felt for years to come.”
L. Gordon Croft, Engr ’56
Croft graduated from Johns Hopkins with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering in 1956 and went on to build the highly respected Croft Leominster Investment Management Co. in Baltimore, Maryland. 
He established endowments for an undergraduate scholarship to support admitted engineering students from his native Port Tobacco in Charles County, Maryland; funded four graduate fellowships and a junior professorship for research in energy; and endowed the Billig-Croft Lecture in honor of his friend, the late Frederick Billig, Engr ’56, a widely respected Johns Hopkins graduate who conducted research at the university’s Applied Physics Laboratory.
In recognition of his lifelong support and generosity, the New Engineering Building on the Homewood campus was renamed “Croft Hall” in 2013. Located on the Wyman Quadrangle, Croft Hall provides 38,000 square feet of office and research space and houses the Department of Computer Science and the Institute for NanoBioTechnology.
Richard A. Swirnow, Engr ’55
A 1955 graduate of the Whiting School, with a degree in industrial engineering, Swirnow was a business leader, founder of HarborView Properties Development Co., and key developer in the transformation of the 42-acre former Bethlehem Steel Shipyard that became the HarborView Marina & Yacht Club. The project helped revitalize Baltimore’s ailing south side. He later became president of Swirnow Charitable Foundation Inc. and chair of HarborView Properties.
At Hopkins, he and his wife, Rae, made possible a state-of-the-art mock operating room that creates a teaching area for students learning robotic surgery. In partnership with Intuitive, the Swirnow Mock OR was later enhanced by the addition of a da Vinci Surgical System. Richard and Rachel also provided seed funding and fellowship support for the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID) in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, as well as a naming gift for the David E. Swirnow Master of Science in Engineering in Bioengineering Innovation and Design. Most recently, a large space in the Bloomberg Student Center was named the Swirnow Multipurpose Room.
Michael J. Zinner, Engr ’67
After earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering science in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins in 1967 and an MD from the University of Florida School of Medicine in 1971, Zinner became a nationally known leader in surgery, medical education, research, and patient care. His leadership roles included serving as chief of surgery and chairman at UCLA, School of Medicine, as vice chairman of surgery, and co-director of the Gastrointestinal Surgery Division at Johns Hopkins Hospital, as chief of general surgery and oncology service and co-director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, and as surgeon-in-chief and chairman at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Most recently, he was the founding CEO and executive medical director of Baptist Health’s Miami Cancer Institute in Florida.
Throughout his life and career, Zinner remained connected to Johns Hopkins, serving on the committees of his 35th and 40th reunions, the Alumni Council, and the Whiting Advisory Board. He received a Johns Hopkins Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2007 and was inducted into the Society of Scholars in 2010.