Edward Rozek, a fiery anti-Communist former professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, died Feb. 19. He was 90.
Services for Rozek, who taught political science at CU for 43 years, will be at 11 a.m. today at Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 6739 S. Boulder Road, Boulder.
Rozek, viewed as an expert on Soviet-American relations, lashed out at the Soviet Union and at Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, saying Russia would be dangerous as long as Vladimir Putin was in power.
The Polish-born Rozek survived Nazi and Communist takeovers of his country. He fought in defense of France and finally ended up in the United States with $50 and eventually graduated from Harvard.
Former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown, a student and fellow Republican, called Rozek “an eloquent professor.” But Brown later found himself a target of Rozek’s when Brown was president of the University of Northern Colorado, where Rozek taught after he left CU.
“I guess it was just his general criticism of all administrators,” Brown said.
Rozek often criticized the “bureaucracy” at CU and said conservatives were discriminated against on the Boulder campus.
Former U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder and his own bishop, the late Denver Catholic Archbishop James V. Casey, were also on the receiving end of Rozek’s criticism because of their support for scaling back the nuclear arsenal.
Former Gov. Dick Lamm said Rozek was a “trouble-maker in a system that even today needs more diverse thinking. He did have the courage of his convictions,” said Lamm, a Democrat.
Edward Rozek was born in Malkow, Poland. After the country was invaded the second time, he escaped to France and joined the First Polish Armored Brigade, taking part in the defense of France, said his wife, Elizabeth Rozek.
He was wounded three times, temporarily blinded by an anti-tank land mine and spent 10 months in hospitals. He earned numerous war medals.
He arrived in the U.S. in 1948 with $50 and was told he could have a scholarship to Harvard if he promised to return to Poland to teach.
He declined the offer, his wife said, and instead found a job on a dairy farm and then a gas station/car dealership in the Woodstock, Ill., area.
He saved enough to start at Harvard and got scholarships to get through. He earned three degrees there.
He was the author of “Allied Wartime Diplomacy” for which he earned the National Foundation Book Award and was named Professor of the Year at CU and a Distinguished Faculty Member there, both in the 1950s.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Christopher Rozek of Maryland and Jonathan Rozek of Attleboro, Mass.; and four grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
