In memory of Zachary Franczek


Zachary J. Franczek

Last week we lost our co-worker and friend Zachary J. Franczek. He passed away unexpectedly on January 1 at the age of 22. I still can hardly believe.

I first met Zach on August 18, 2015. He was a Geology major, but had a strong interest in biodiversity and conservation. He told me he had about 8 hours available each week and he wanted to volunteer at the Triplehorn Insect Collection. He came highly recommended by my colleague Nicole Gunter of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History where he had been volunteering over the summer. I gave him a tour of the collection, and we had a lovely chat. He asked questions about curation and the kinds of skills one needs to become a curator. He liked the idea of working in a Geology collection one day, maybe even study fossil insects.  Zach started volunteering at the Triplehorn collection on Tuesday, August 20. Since he already had some experience with data entry, he breezed through our basic training. Within a month he was already taking on more advanced tasks and excelling at them.

When I asked the undergraduate students in the collection to write a quick bio that I could add to the collection’s website or to our blog, Zach sent me this:

“My name is Zach Franczek and I am a Junior at The Ohio State University. I am currently pursuing a B.S. in Earth Sciences with a specialization in Geological Sciences. Previously, I volunteered at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History helping to database their collection of parasitoid wasps. My experiences at the Triplehorn Insect Collection and The Cleveland Museum of Natural History have opened my eyes to the world of entomology, and I look forward to learning more about this discipline of science in the future.” Aug 27, 2015.

In the fall of 2015 our beetle databasing project funds became available, and my first act was to offer Zach a paid curatorial assistant position. He was a gem, the quality of his work was top notch, and we wanted him to continue working with us. Zach’s main responsibilities were specimen data transcription (copying the label information from the specimen labels) and georeferencing (finding geographic coordinates for collecting localities.) That’s tedious work, but he did not mind at all. He liked to see the result of his work, “the dots on the map.” He entered a total of 6,485 specimen into the collection’s database. That’s a whole lot of specimens!

While working side-by-side on one curatorial task or another, Zach and I had many stimulating conversations. We talked about loads of subjects, ranging from general insect biology to music to environmental activism to social justice to science policy. He was interested in science as a process. He had decided that he really enjoyed doing research, and he planned to enroll on a doctoral program after graduating from OSU. In recent months we had been discussing his research interests, his plans for graduate school, and the elements of a good statement of purpose for his application.

I have many memories of Zach, and some of the ones I cherish the most are related to his study trip to Utah in June 2016. For the two months before the trip we did not talk about anything else, it was all about the trip. We went over the academic goals of the trip, exchanged ideas on potential itineraries and stops along the way, and talked about all the gear he needed to get. Every week I would ask him if he had everything he needed, and he’d tease me (he knew I’m an early packer) by saying ‘Oh, no! I’ll be packing until the evening before‘. We even came up with a soundtrack for the long drive out west. When he left I asked him to send photos and to keep us updated on his adventures, and of course he did (photos below by Zach Franczek).

Zach wrote this when he sent the photos:

“I hope everything is going well! Here are some pics from our campground in Moab, Arches National Park, and Dead Horse Point State Park!

I climbed up on some places where I probably was not allowed to get some of those pics, but it was worth it! We hiked for almost 15 miles on the day we went to the parks in 100 degree weather. Only got a little bit of sunburn*! The only bugs I have seen are big colonies of ants, but I’m sure I will see more soon! Feel free to use any of the pics too! I’ll be sure to keep you updated with how everything is going!” June 5-6, 2016. 

* The reference to sunburn is Zach teasing me for telling him probably 500 times to watch for sunburn in the desert.

zachf-secret-santa-2015

Working and interacting with Zach was a privilege. He had a sharp mind and was keen to learn all he could. He was kind, easy-going, and smiled frequently. He was an excellent employee and a cherished co-worker, always respectful, attentive, and helpful. He was generally quiet, but loved a good debate. Zach Franczek was one of us, part of our family, and we miss him greatly!


About the Author: Dr. Luciana Musetti is an Entomologist and the Curator of the Triplehorn Insect Collection. All photos by the author unless credited otherwise.

One thought on “In memory of Zachary Franczek

  1. I had not heard about this, and it is terrible news. It is definitely a loss for the collection, the Museum, and OSU; my thoughts go out to his friends and family as well. I had worked with Zach during my short stay at the collection. I remember talking with him about the frustrations of transcribing old hand written labels and Zach was always willing to lend a hand when helping me learn georeferencing. He was a pleasure to work with and to know; as Dr. Musetti said, he will be missed.

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