It is with regret that the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures at the Ohio State University announces the death on October 7, 2017 of our emeritus professor Jerzy R. Krzyzanowski.
Born in 1922 in Lublin, Poland, the son of Julian Krzyzanowski, the scholar of Polish literature, and Emilia née Sobieszczanska, Jerzy Krzyzanowski served in the Polish Armia Krajowa during World War II. Like his father Julian, who was deported to Siberia in the wake of the first world war, Jerzy spent several years in a Soviet POW camp in Central Europe after the second. He emigrated to the United States in 1959 and earned his PhD at the University of Michigan in 1965. Before arriving at Ohio State University in 1967, Prof. Kryzanowski taught at the University of California, Berkeley, University of Colorado, and the University of Kansas. He spent the bulk of his career in Columbus, Ohio, where he influenced generations of students, teaching both Polish and Russian.
In addition to his service to Ohio State, Jerzy Krzyzanowski served numerous associations including the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (P.I.A.S.A.), where he was a board member from 1980-86. Author of many materials for studying Polish, Jerzy also wrote the biography of Władysław Reymont (Twayne, 1972) and a companion to Sienkiewicz’s famous trilogy as well as novels, books, and memoirs in Polish, many of which have been published over the past two decades.
Remembered for his infectious smile and his kind manner, Prof. Jerzy Krzyzanowski was a consummate professional and gentleman who continued to attend university events well into his retirement. The department sends its heartfelt condolences to his sons Kris and Justyn, as well as to those colleagues whose lives he touched as a teacher and scholar.