Stanislaw Wasowski, a professor emeritus in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and former chair of the economics department, died on Oct. 11 in his Virginia home. A war hero and accomplished intellectual, Wasowski leaves behind a notable legacy.
Before becoming an accomplished economics scholar, Wasowski served in the Polish army and acted as a courier for the Polish underground during WWII. Imprisoned twice, Wasowski survived a serious injury and was freed at the end of the war from an Austrian POW camp. He received Poland’s most venerated award for bravery.
Describing Wasowski as a “gentleman and a scholar,” fellow economics professor George Viksnins marveled over his friend’s early signs of intellectual aptitude. “Coming out of Poland, he somehow managed to attend the Institut d’Etudes Politiques and the London School of Economics, both very prestigious schools,” he said.
In 1957 Wasowski came to the United States to teach at Duquesne University. Two years later he came to Georgetown, where he taught on topics ranging from economic history to mathematical methods.
Viksnins described him as amazingly versatile, fluent in four languages and knowledgeable on a broad spectrum of historical and economic subjects. As an expert in international economics, Wasowski himself represented the international character of the economics department.
“Looking around the department, we have an Iranian, an Indian, an Egyptian – a whole spectrum of nationalities,” Viksnins said. “[Dr. Wasowski] was a part of that.”
Wasowski was elected chair of the economics department and president of the faculty senate. “He was a popular teacher,” Viksnins said. “He had a marvelous sense of humor.”
Wasowski, who retired from the university in 1993, died of pneumonia at the age of 77. Assistant Vice President for Communications Julie Green Bataille expressed Georgetown’s sense of loss. “He will be warmly remembered both as a hero of the Second World War and as an outstanding teacher whose contributions to the university will be sadly missed.”
