Obituary of Marian Augustyniak

Marian Augustyniak, 94, of 77 Cooper Street, Inwood, died peacefully on August 4, 2020. Marian had been a resident of New York City for more than 60 years. At the age of 18, he joined the Polish Home Army and fought in the 1944 Warsaw Rising. When the Home Army surrendered, he was marched off to a series of German Prisoner of War camps until being liberated at Amberg, Germany by the 761st Tank Battalion of the US Army in May 1945. Unable to return to his native Poland which was under Soviet occupation, Marian spent time in Displaced Persons’ camps in Germany before emigrating to the US in 1949. He lived in Connecticut with his uncle, Tomasz Augustyniak, until he was drafted in 1950 and sent to Korea with the US 2nd Infantry. He earned a Purple Heart and four Bronze Stars before being discharged in 1952. Following his military service, he earned a BA in Architecture at Carnegie Institute of Technology and an MS in Urban Planning at Columbia University. He maintained licensure as an architect in both New York and Connecticut until his death. An avid tennis player, Marian was featured in NY Tennis magazine in 2018 and played daily until earlier this year. He is the author of Superstes Ergo Sum, a memoir of his youth with commentary on the current state of Poland. Marian is survived by two nephews, Zbigniew Baranski of Queen Creek, Arizona and Gregory Baranski of Lachine, Quebec, Canada. Also several cousins in the US and Poland and two special friends, Sybille Werner of Italy, Grazyna Miezgoda of Inwood. A memorial service will be held at Riverdale Funeral Home, 5044 Broadway, on Tuesday August 18 beginning at noon. Burial will be in his hometown of Blizne, Poland. To plant Memorial Trees in memory of Marian Augustyniak, please click here to visit our Sympathy Store.