Colleagues, Students Grieve For WSU Chemist Zuzanna Czuchajowska Killed In Traffic Accident Near Coeur D’Alene
Students and colleagues of a respected Washington State University cereal chemist who died last week are vowing to carry on her research.
A memorial Mass and reception for Zuzanna Czuchajowska is scheduled for Saturday in Moscow.
Czuchajowska died in an automobile accident last Saturday near Coeur d’Alene. She was 55.
As a faculty member in WSU’s Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Czuchajowska headed a 16-member research group, which included a half-dozen graduate students and visiting professors from Peru and Poland.
“They want to stay together, and they want to go ahead full-speed with all the projects,” said James Zuiches, dean of the College of Agriculture and Home Economics.
“As the intellectual leader of this program I would expect she would want it to be accomplished.”
A post-doctoral research associate who was co-investigator with Czuchajowska will lead the group while WSU conducts a national search for her replacement, Zuiches said.
Counselors have been on hand all week for grieving students, faculty and staff.
“Everybody loved Zuzanna,” said Alan McCurdy, department chairman. “She brought a lot of energy and laughter to the department, and that’s a hard thing to replace.
“She demanded the best from the whole group and that strength that she gave them is what’s carrying them through,” he said. “She gave them the tools to be independent, strong scientists and that’s one of her legacies.”
Her research focused on adding value to cereal crops, such as wheat and barley, by breaking them down into smaller components, such as gluten and starch.
She worked closely with industry commodity groups and received many awards, including the International Wheat Gluten Association Award in 1989, 1990 and 1992.
Czuchajowska was an associate editor of Cereal Chemistry since 1991. She received the Faculty Excellence in Research Award from the WSU College of Agriculture and Home Economics in 1997.
She was born in Gruszow, Poland, on Jan. 2, 1944. She studied at a university in Krakow, where she received a master’s and doctorate in agriculture.
In the early 1960s, she married Leszek Czuchajowska. The couple immigrated to the United States in 1981. She became a citizen in 1993, and, three years later, took the helm of WSU’s cereal chemistry program.
She is survived by her husband; two daughters, Marysia Czuchajowska of Moscow and Joanna Wiesinger of Ambler, Pa.; a stepdaughter, Alicja Czuchajowska of Chicago, Ill.; her father, Jozef Dzioba of Gruszow, Poland; and two grandchildren.
There will be a rosary service tonight at 7:30 at St. Augustine’s Catholic Center at Moscow. The memorial Mass will be celebrated Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. Augustine’s Catholic Center.
A reception will follow the service. Short’s Funeral Chapel in Moscow is in charge of arrangements.