Swen Larson, 82; former Redlands mayor helped establish airport

Swen Larson, 82, a general contractor who served as mayor of Redlands in the mid-1990s, died Tuesday from complications of pneumonia at Redlands Community Hospital, city officials said.

Larson is credited with helping to convert Norton Air Force Base into San Bernardino International Airport. He helped negotiate the purchase of 1,300 acres of the base from the Air Force and was the first president of the San Bernardino International Airport Authority.

Near the end of his mayoral term in 1997, Larson found himself in political hot water when he signed a proclamation endorsing a “March for Jesus” in Redlands. The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the city to rescind the proclamation. After nine years on the city’s Planning Commission, Larson joined the City Council in 1989. He became mayor in 1993.

Born in 1924 in Sweden, Larson came to the U.S. when he was 3 and grew up in Chicago. The Army stationed him in California, and he lived in Redlands for more than 60 years.