I just read about Dr. Mikolajczak's passing at the Umass Dartmouth Alumni magazine. I am truly sorry for your loss. I have great memories of him as my professor in CIS. He was one of my favorite professors. I will never forget when he offered to help me on a Saturday morning. He came into school during a snow storm to help me out before a final. I have great respect for him as a professor and as a person.

- Liz Swenson

Professor Boleslaw Mikolajczak was our close friend, the youngest to achieve PhD and an assistant professor position at the Poznan Politechnique before his immigration to the USA. He was a favored companion, the soul of wonderful youth-time parties and at the same time highly respected, outstanding scientist. His remarkable and vast accomplishments made all his colleagues proud. We will forever remember his bright, open face, uncommon kindness and humanity, wisdom and intelligence, valuable and effective advice. As peers or younger colleagues we turned to him for advice with faith and our faith was always rewarded. He advised, shared his experience with unforgettable humility, directness, tact and sensitivity. We would like to express our deepest sympathy to his wife Urszula, sons, daughter in law and extended family. We join you in the deepest pain, sorrow and prayer. May God grant our dear friend Bolek eternal peace. 

Profesor Boleslaw Mikolajczak byl naszym serdecznym przyjacielem, najmlodszym doktorem habilitowanym Politechniki Poznanskiej przed swoja emigracja do USA, najmilszym towarzyszem i glowna postacia wspanialych mlodzienczych zabaw i cenionym, wybitnym naukowcem, z ktorego osiagniec bylismy dumni. Na zawsze pozostana w naszej pamieci jego pogodna, usmiechnieta twarz, niezwykla zyczliwosc i dobroc,  madrosc i inteligencja, cenne i trafne rady, po ktore z wielka ufnoscia sie do niego zwracalismy, udzielane z niezwykla delikatnoscia i skromnoscia.
Skladamy wyrazy najglebszego wspolczucia Malzonce Urszuli, Synom, Synowej i calej rodzinie. Laczymy sie z Wami w glebokim zalu, bolu i modlitwie.
Wieczny odpoczynek racz Mu dac Panie.

Dr. Mikolajczak was a great man. He was kind and encouraging to his students in the CIS Department at UMASS Dartmouth and always inspired them to do their best. I am so sorry to hear of the loss of Dr. Mikolajczak. As the Mikolajczak Family, Friends, and Campus Community mourn this loss, let him be within our hearts. My sympathies and prayers go out to his family.

Pat: Thank you very much for the information on Professor Mikolajczak. He was a great asset to the University and the computer science program. He was also a wonderful individual. I was very sorry to learn of his illness and death. Please pass my sympathy and concern to his family and to his friends, especially those in his department. Sincerely, Peter

 

From: Patricia A Sikora [mailto:psikora@umassd.edu] 
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 2:37 PM
To: Peter Cressy
Subject: Fwd: Remembering Professor Boleslaw Mikolajczak

 

Dr. Cressy,

 

I wanted to forward this e-mail to you since I'm sure you knew Professor Boleslaw Mikolajczak.  There were people including Catherine Fortier-Barnes who saw him several days ago, and he was always full of energy, and vigor.  He and I always exchanged a few words in Polish--"Good day.  How are you?" in Polish since my mother came from Poland after World War II.  He always had a smile on his face when we met.  It just shows that we may be here today, but none of us know about tomorrow.  As Catherine said to me, "We have to live every day to the fullest." 

 

God bless you.

 

Sincerely,

Pat Sikora

________________________________

From: chancellor@umassd.edu
To: "FACULTY LIST -- NOTIFY" , "ADMINISTRATOR LIST - NOTIFY" , "STAFF LIST - NOTIFY" , "STUDENT LIST - NOTIFY" 
Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2010 1:36:22 PM
Subject: Remembering Professor Boleslaw Mikolajczak



Our academic community lost a valuable leader on Thursday when Professor Boleslaw Mikolajczak, chairman of our Computer Science Department in the College of Engineering, passed away. This is a large and painful loss for our campus, from both an academic and personal perspective as Dr. Mikolajczak was a world-renowned scientist and exemplary colleague. Our thoughts and prayers are with Professor Mikolajczak’s family, friends, and colleagues at this most difficult time. 




College of Engineering Dean Robert Peck captured Professor Mikolajczak’s impact on the university and the field of computer science by describing him as an, “outstanding scholar and educator in theoretical computer science who was recognized internationally for his research in Petri Nets and was instrumental in building a leading computer science program with accomplished students and faculty. He was respected by his colleagues for his leadership, fairness, dedication to the profession, and his firmly-held principles about academic life.” 




Obituaries can be found on the web at the following links: 

New York Times -- http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=boleslaw-mikolajczak&pid=144260239 

Standard-Times – http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100725/NEWS03/7250349/-1/NEWS04 




The following funeral arrangements have been scheduled. 




Visitation: 
Monday July 26 , 5-8 pm 
Dartmouth Funeral Home 
230 Russells Mills Road, South Dartmouth 

Funeral Service: 
Tuesday July 27 , 10 a.m. 
St Julie Billiart Church 
494 Slocum Road, North Dartmouth 

Burial: 
Following funeral 
South Dartmouth Cemetery 
507 Elm Street, South Dartmouth 

More information and a remembrance forum can be found on the following website: 

http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Boleslaw-Mikolajczak&lc=4683&mid=4325083 




The family has also established a scholarship fund in the professor's memory. Donations may be made to UMDF/Mikolajczak Fund, Care of University of Massachusetts Foundation Office, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth , 285 Old Westport Road, North Dartmouth , MA 02747 .

Dear Urszula, Maciej, Wojciech, Marija and Jordan. 
The Polish American communities of Fall River and New Bedford were deeply saddened to hear about the death of Prof. Boleslaw Mikolajczak. You are in our thoughts and prayers. He was great intellectual inspiration for so many. Boleslaw will be missed very much. 
May God bless you and your family during this difficult time and always.

Dr. Mikolajczak will certainly be missed by all who knew him.  He was a great teacher and leader and as a colleague he will be missed.  My sympathies and prayers go out to his family.

John Rutkiewicz

Boleslaw Mikolajczak, and in fact the Mikolajczak family were among the closest friends of the Bednarz family, especially of my parents, Jerzy and Aniceta Bednarz. The Mikolajczak family's leaving for the US left a void unfilled by anyone else in the lives of my parents and in my generation too. In my own life, the Mikolajczak's played an irreplaceable role--the first to help me in the US when I first visited at the age of 15, the ones to be present at my MM graduation in place of my parents, present at my sister's wedding and many occasions in between. Only last year I saw prof. Mikolajczak at Univ. of MA, North Dartmouth on the occasion of a concert by Atma Trio, for organizing of which we are very grateful to him. We also held some wonderful and much appreciated conversations about the academic world. both my husband and I deem Bolek's advice priceless and we shall cherish it forever, as we shall cherish his memory. I remember (since childhood) Boleslaw Mikolajczak as an extremely bright, intelligent, in fact brilliant person of uncommon intellect, wisdom, tremendous experience, willing to offer advice, his time, his expertise, willing to find answers not immediately known  to questions  from seemingly outside of his field. Was there anything outside of his field of knowledge, interest? I always found him to be exceedingly knowledgeable, open-minded, imaginative, understanding. From childhood I recall that he was a true soul-of-the-party. In the difficult times leading to the Martial Law in Poland  through the early eighties, the 'get-together's with the Mikolajczak family meant one thing for us the youngsters--immensely interesting, stimulating, thought-provoking and instructive conversations in which Bolek Mikolajczak held a primary role. He taught not just his university students. He taught all of us young--and then in subsequent years older--kids lucky enough to have contact with him. He was a true role model, in his discipline, in life, politics, human relations, life-philosophy, in any area one may be pleased to name. I consider it an unforgettable privilege to be able to have had Boleslaw MIkolajczak in my life and the life of my family. What a loss to us all to have him depart this world so soon. With all the love and admiration, with eternal gratitude for all you, Boleslaw MIkolajczak,  have brought to this life, 
Blanka Bednarz with husband, Cheung Chau, joined by sister Agata Bednarz, parents Jerzy and Aniceta Bednarz

I lost a great friend and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth lost a dedicated scholar and educator. As the dean of College of Engineering I worked closely with Bolek and observed how much he cared about his department, his students and his faculty and staff.  He was a compassionate human being, honest, kind, and trustworthy. I will miss him and am sure so will the university and Dartmouth community.

I was one of many fortunate graduate students at North Dartmouth campus to be mentored by Bolek. Bolek held high standards for his students in the classroom, yet outside the classroom, he was a mentor, a friend, and a man of great integrity. He had a direct impact on my career through his kind advice and encouragement for a new foreign student trying to adapt into a new environment.  In recent years I had the privilege of serving on the department's Industry Advisory Board, and Bolek's annual briefing had always been a demonstration of his dedication and commitment to the profession he loved: teaching and research. He will be greatly missed.

Dr. Mikolajczak was kind, encouraging and patient with me when I returned to do a master's degree in CIS as a 50-year-old. He will be missed by many of us former students.

Dr. Mikolajczak has been an exceptional leader of the Computer and Information Science Department for a long time. He has also been a role model for others for being diligent, honest and fair. He will live on in the hearts of everyone who loved him. I'm sorry for your loss.

I'm sorry for your loss -- actually, our loss. We'll be on vacation next week, so I won't be able to stop in to express my sympathy in person. We worked together on CIS initiatives and he was a thoughtful, intelligent, colleague. He will be missed.

As a colleague, Dr. Mikolajczak is very intelligent and friendly; as a leader, he is honest, fair and wise, leading as a role model for others. He will be missed very much in very long time. May God comfort you at this time knowing that one day we will see him again and there will be no death to separate beloved ones forever.

To Dr. Mikolajczak's Family - So sorry to hear of your loss. Dr. Mikolajczak was an incredible professor in umass and will be greatly miss. Thinking of you all.

OBITUARY

Boleslaw Mikolajczak

June 30, 1946 – July 22, 2010

Waring Sullivan Dartmouth Funeral and Cremation Service

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