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Obituaries
Witold Kuncewicz
1922-2009
Witold Kuncewicz, a World War II veteran of the Polish Navy under the Allied Operational command and, as he described himself, a committed, proud U.S. citizen since soon after the war, resident of Flint Hill, Virginia since 1959, died May 31, 2009. He deserted his beloved wife Dorothy, son Alexander and long time-devoted friend Jo Pat, as well as his cousins and numerous dedicated friends in Poland.
He was bom in 1922 in Warsaw, Poland, into a traditionally patriotic family: his mother Maria Kuncewicz was an outstanding Polish writer, founder of the International PEN Club for Writers in Exile and professor of the American universities; his father, Jerzy Kuncewicz, was a lawyer, politician and publicist. Witold had been educated at the Mikolaj Rey School in Warsaw, then at the high school in Rydzyna, an elitist establishment assembling the best youth in the country. After Germans invaded Poland in September 1939 he left for France where he received his “baccalaureate” in May 1940 from the Lycee Cyprian Norwid in Paris.
During WWII he was an officer of the submarine service for the Polish Navy under British operational command. He took part in action in the North Sea, the Atlantic, and convoys to Murmansk, Archangelsk, and the Arctic Sea. He served in submarines “Wilk”, “Sokol” and “Jastrzab” and the destroyer “Garland”. He was decorated twice with the Cross of Valor, several British medals, Polish Naval Medal and the Russian Medal of Defenders of Freedom for his service in convoy work to Murmansk and from Archangelsk in 1942.
In 1952 he moved to the U.S.A., where he first became a builder and concrete contractor in New York State. After buying a country property in Virginia, called the Old Kennels, he concentrated with much success on farming, hydroponic growing of vegetables as well as his horses. Starting at Ross Industries, Inc. in Virginia 1979, he became its President and managed it till 1990. Fulfilling his mother’s wish, Witold established in 1990 the Kuncewicz Foundation based in his parents’ villa in a picturesque little town Kazimierz Dolny in Poland. Under its director Mr. Edward Balawejder and thanks to the work of many volunteers it became a vivid cultural center visited by many people from Poland and abroad. Since 2005 the house was turned into the Museum of Maria and Jerzy Kuncewicz and is directed by Mrs. Wanda Konopinska-Michalak who has been organizing various cul-' tural events thus fulfilling the family’s wishes.
Witold did many things in life. He was a seaman, a heroic member of crews of fighting submarines, a deep-sea fisher
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