OBITUARY: Roman Drazniowsky, former head of Educational Council
by Dr. Paul Pundy
CHICAGO - Dr. Roman Drazniowsky, a scholar, librarian and geographer, and former president of the Educational Council of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, died on July 8. He was 84.
He was born on August 13, 1922, in the town of Chortkiv, Ternopil Oblast, into the patriotic family of Osyp and Irena (Savaryn) Drazniowsky.
After graduation from secondary school, Mr. Drazniowsky joined the Ukrainian armed forces, and was a member of the Galicia Division. After WorId War II he studied geography at the University of Graz, and in 1947 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Innsbruck in Austria.
In 1950 he emigrated to the United States, where he met and married a Ukrainian physician from Volyn, Dr. Nina Jarmoluk, with whom he had two daughters, Irena and Alexandra.
In New York he continued his studies at Columbia University, and in 1962 received a master's degree in library science. For the next five years he was a map curator at Columbia. At the same time he joined the American Geographic Society and lectured at the School of Library Science of Columbia University. From 1962 to 1978 he was the curator of rare maps and geographic books at the American Geographic Society.
In 1979 Dr. Drazniowsky was promoted to professor of library science at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. There he met and married his second wife, Carole, whom he called Zirka. Dr. Drazniowsky worked at the University of Wisconsin for 15 years, and occasionally visited his friends in Chicago.
Dr. Drazniowsky died peacefully on July 8 and was buried at the Ukrainian cemetery of St. Andrew in Bloomingdale, Ill.
Dr. Drazniowsky published several books and geographic papers, among them: "Index to Maps in Books and Periodicals," 1968; "Cataloguing and Filing Rules for Maps and Atlases," 1969; "Physical Map of Ukraine in Color," 1972; "Map Librarianship, Readings," 1975; "Research Catalogue of the American Geographic Society," 1979.
Since 1964 he edited current geographic publications of the American Geographic Society. In 1978 he was the recipient of an honorary diploma and the Charles Daly Medal.
He was also a full member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in New York and a member of the International Geographic Society in Paris. For several years he served as president of the Brotherhood of Veterans of the Ukrainian National Army Brody-Lev.
Dr. Drazniowsky was also a professor and president (1993-1995) of the Ukrainian Free University in Munich, Germany. He served for a time as president of the Ukrainian Library Association of America and contributed his expertise as president of the Educational Council of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, September 24, 2006, No. 39, Vol. LXXIV
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