Piotr S. Wandycz
Piotr S. Wandycz died peacefully at the Connecticut Hospice on Saturday morning, July 28, 2017. Born in Kraków in 1923 during the Second Polish Republic and raised in Lwow, Piotr S. Wandycz left the country during World War II in 1939. He and his family crossed into Romania, and in 1940 went to France. Graduating from the Polish Lycee in Villard de Lans, he studied at the University of Grenoble. In late 1942 he reached the United Kingdom where he served in the Polish army until 1945 as a second lieutenant. After the war he studied at the University of Cambridge where he received B.A. and M.A. and the London School of Economics (Ph.D. 1951). Later he moved to the United States, where he taught at Indiana University before coming to Yale University in 1966 as an associate professor. He was promoted to a full professorship in 1968 and was named Bradford Durfee Professor in 1989. At Yale, he has served as director of graduate studies in Russian and East European studies and in history, chair of the Council on Russian and East European Studies, and director of the Language and Area Center. He is the author of 18 books and over 500 articles and book reviews. Piotr S. Wandycz is a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, the Polish Academy of Learning, and is an honorary member of the Polish Historical Association. His many other honors include the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Wroclaw, the Sorbonne, the Jagiellonian University, and the Catholic University of Lublin. He is survived by his wife, Teresa, his three children, Kasia, Joanna and Antoni and his two grandchildren, Alexander and Leticia. Friends and former colleagues are invited to mass at Saint Rita’s Parish on Tuesday, August 1st at 10:00am.
Deepest condolences to Prof. Wandycz’s family. I read many of his books and attended numerous lectures of his at the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America. Great man, Pole, and scholar. He will be missed.
He was a great teacher. He had a passion for the subject matter that was contagious, and a deep concern for the success of his students. He will be sorely missed.
My deepest condolences to the Wandycz family. Prof. Wandycz was my teacher, advisor and all around friendly presence during my studies at Yale. The kindest and wisest person. Deeply grateful for the time I got to spend with him…
Our condolences to the family, Teresa, Kasia, Joanna and Antoni. He was a dignified and accomplished gentleman. He will be missed in the neighborhood. Thinking of you all.
Niech mu ziemia bedzie lekka, spoczywaj w spokoju!
Piotr Wandycz, my friend for decades, was one of the people I most admired. He was such a wonderful person, so accomplished and always so modest. I regret immensely being unable to be in Connecticut for his funeral today. Our hearts go out to the Wandycz family.
R.I.P. Great Man . My condolences to Wandycz’s Family.
So sorry to learn of Professor Wandycz’s passing. He was a great historian and an accomplished editor whose work I greatly admired. We are diminished by his absence.
Always so grateful to have studied with Professor Wandycz. His intelligence and complexity of thought was so inspiring. It was an honor to have been his student. A great man of honor and integrity. Truly grateful to have known you Sir.