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Professor Jack Mrowka passed away sometime during the night of July 5th or early in the morning of July 6th, due to a heart attack. He was 58. Jack's death took place while he was attending the ESRI User Conference in San Diego. He had been looking forward to attending the conference for some time. Jack apparently checked in to his hotel on the 5th and passed away during the night. We all remember Jack as an addicted slide taker, an enthusiastic teacher, an unfailingly helpful advisor, and an energetic supporter of geography all its forms. His passing leaves a huge gap in our lives. This page is constructed with the help of Jack's friends, colleagues and students, who share their remembrances and photos of Jack with us. If you would like to contribute to this page, please send written remarks or photos to geography@csus.edu. |
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I first met Jack during the summer of 1974 in Eugene. He had just arrived to begin his appointment at Oregon. I knew his background already: geomorphologist, PhD from UCLA, first teaching job at Chicago--credentials that I associated with a person "on the make" professionally, a person likely to be remote and superior. Of course what I found immediately in our brief introduction was that Jack was soft-spoken, modest, and most of all, genuinely friendly and eager to please. Nine years later, when he first taught part-time here at Sac State, I found him to be as I had remembered from the first encounter in Eugene. He was living in Santa Rosa, commuting here several days a week in a huge old Chevy Suburban that required about as much in gas money as he earned. Never one to waste time, he used the time driving as a chance to collect temperature data which he imagined some day would allow preparation of a detailed report, or he sorted slides into a carousel for use in his classes that day. You never know what those other drivers around you might be doing!
On several
occasions during this period Jack accepted my standing offer to stay the
night at our house rather than make the trip to Santa Rosa and back. On
one of these stay-overs he spoke with great excitement and enthusiasm
about a young woman he had met at the planetarium at Santa Rosa Junior
College. A planetarium--Jack's version of a singles bar!
In addition to a sophisticated background in geography, Jack also had a simple collector's urge to visit every state, every continent, every country in Latin America. Time and money and a young family were obstacles, but Jack was never one to be put off track. In the summer of 1990 Jack and Kathy and Greg and Anna went on a whirlwind trip to Venezuela and Puerto Rico. I believe they were in Venezuela no more than three or four days, during which time they covered about 1500 miles in a rental car and Jack took about a thousand slides--most of them while the car was moving, fast. I presume he was the driver too. Theseslides are readily identified by the blurred foreground. Out of this trip, in the fall of 1990, he gave a slide presentation at the annual meeting of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers in Chico dealing with the distribution of natural vegetation in Central Northern Venezuela, comparing what was actually there (as seen at 100 kph) with what was shown on half a dozen or so vegetation maps from textbooks and atlases. Most in the audience were unaware of what a high wire act this was for Jack, but I marveled at his ability to look at the projected slides of the maps and say what vegetation was indicated, because Jack was color blind and even with normal color vision I couldn't distinguish one type from another. Jack of course was armed with about three carousels full of slides with fifteen minutes allocated for his talk plus five minutes more for discussion. After twenty-five minutes, with at least another carousel to go, the session chair had to give Jack the hook. I think this episode in a way captures Jack's approach to life-energetic and enthusiastic and optimistic and bursting at the seams to get out and see the world and share what he saw with others. I'm sure for young Greg and Anna it was an unforgettable experience, possibly as well for the Chico audience! Jack was immensely proud to be a geographer. He also was proud of his background growing up in western New York and of his undergraduate alma mater, SUNY Buffalo, and of the Buffalo Bills whom he perennially expected to win the Super Bowl with Jim Kelly at quarterback. He attributed much of his character, including his constant striving to be the best geographer he could be, to the influence of the nuns who were his teachers up to high school. I don't think Jack ever in his life smoked or drank or swore. I never knew him to in the nineteen years he was at CSUS. But the nuns may not have been the primary influence in this (certainly Irish Catholics smoke and drink and swear, but I don't know about Polish Catholics). For part of his youth Jack lived with his family in a large farm house in the vicinity of Palmyra, New York, so large that Jack and his five brothers each had a bedroom. About four miles south of Palmyra is Hill Cumorah, a proper drumlin on the north end of which sits the Angel Moroni Monument, commemorating the place where Joseph Smith received the golden tablets. Every summer tens of thousands of Mormon faithful come from all over the world to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. They need lodging. Jack's parents took the opportunity to supplement the family income by renting out rooms in their home, Jack and his brothers moving temporarily to the barn. The Mormons, vigorous proselytizers that they are, saw this as an opportunity for more than lodging, and directed young attractive Mormon women to the Mrowka residence. I've wondered if Jack's character wasn't influenced somehow as a result, at least in the area of smoking, drinking, and swearing. Although I don't think Jack knew of Joseph Campbell--that wasn't his sort of thing--I cannot help thinking of Campbell's phrase "follow your bliss" when thinking of Jack. A more complete statement of Campbell's idea: "If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track, which has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living." To me, that was Jack. He found joy in life because he had followed his bliss. Geographer, husband, father, traveler, colleague. Unfailingly polite, friendly, cheerful, optimistic, ready to help. A few more Campbell quotes, each of which seems apropos of Jack: "Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy." "Out of perfection nothing can be made. Every process involves breaking something up." "The warrior's approach is to say 'yes' to life: 'yea' to it all." "We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." "We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy." Jack's own expression of philosophy of life, which he found about six years ago and typically repeated many times a day, was simple: NO PROBLEM............GO FOR IT!
Bob
Richardson I didn't know Jack well, but our paths crossed several times while he was at Oregon and later in Sacramento, and I always looked forward to seeing him again when the opportunity presented itself. I have no doubt that he was a superb teacher. His infectious smile and his enthusiasm for his subject would have gotten almost anyone involved. In his own quiet way he made significant contributions to the discipline and he will be sorely missed.
Elliot McIntire I am deeply saddened with the learning of Jack's passing. I will miss him. I met him in 1979 in my second year with the USGS after graduate School. I walked into this professor's office a the University of Oregon in Eugene to ask if there was someone with whom I could discuss hydrology. It didn't take long for his infectious smile and boundless energy to shine through, even for someone (me) still finishing his MS degree while working fulltime. I quickly learned of Jack's love, like mine, for rivers, to simply understand them. And as a field technician during those years, he quickly found ways for me to help his students, sometimes when I least expected it. Once while working at a stream gage on Winberry Creek a big yellow bus pulled up and out stepped Jack with a big smile and about 30 students, whereupon he had me explain real-world hydrology and data collection. My supervisor told me later he called knowing I was in the field that week to find out where to take his class. There were more times we shared the love of just being in the field seeing what was going on in Western Oregon. And there was only one time I got the better of him, shortly after the eruption of Mount St. Helens. While he had to pay for a short helicopter ride around the edges of the red zone, I got to fly in the red zone and into the crater as part of my work collecting data. He always laughed about that. While he left for California, I went on to Phoenix, AZ and now Tacoma, WA, but we've kept in touch now and then. I can't think of him without smiling and thinking of his spirit for life. My heart and prayers go to Kathy and the family and the Department for the loss of someone so special to many. He will be missed.
Scott M. Knowles Jack Mrowka made a great impact on my life. His passion for his work was inspiring and moved me to change my field of study from Geology to Geography. I have many memories of Jack Mrowka but one seems to stand out. Right before graduating my nephew asked to go to some of my classes for a project he was doing. As with most teenagers, he was bored with school in general and my classes were not any different. By the time we got to Jack’s class he was disappointed in the prospects of college all together. After ten minutes of waiting for Jack my nephew asked impatiently when the class would start. I said any minute. Just then Jack busted through the class door holding several reels of slides under one arm and a file folder under the other. His shirttail was hanging out and his hair was messed up. Jack quickly set everything down on the desk and excitedly started the class. After a while I looked over at my nephew who was captivated by Jack’s enthusiasm and anecdotes. He later told me that he couldn’t wait to get to college and that Jack was the “coolest” teacher he had every seen. Whether it was being “cool” or passionate about life, Jack had the key to capturing our attention and will forever inspire us.
Doug Allen I was very shocked and sad to hear that Jack passed away. When I met Jack for the first time, it was during the Fall of 2000 to get my geography advisor sheet and my petition for graduation sheet filled out. I was amazed how he took the time to help me do the paper work and pick out the classes I needed to get the Geography Degree. During this time I told him that I wanted to take Geography 110: Advanced GIS class which would be offered for the first time in Fall 2001, my last semester before graduation. He told me that the Department was trying to hire a teacher but was uncertain if they would find one by the time the class started . He also indicated that if the hiring did not work out, he would either teach me one on one under Geography 199: Special Problems or he would teach the class himself. Either way, I would have the credits to graduate as I had planned. I was really surprised that he offered to do that for me and the other students. It turned out he did teach Geography 110 for about a half semester before the formal instructor was able to take over the class. Jack's Field class was one of the best classes I ever took. Jack took the class to places I had never been to before and I really enjoyed it. The class was almost like a PE class since we walked and hiked a lot. It was a challenge sometimes to keep up with him because he was a really fast walker. The hardest trip was the first trip to Wright's Lake. Jack was able to walk fast about a mile or two and go up a steep hill with no problem while some of the class including myself was out of breath by the time we reached the top of the hill. Also on the Bodega Bay trip I could not believe how fast he could run down the beach from the cliffs to the shoreline with the tape measurer. Jack was a very fast runner. I am sure he could outrun anyone in the class with no problem. I am glad I was able to go on every trip with the class. I learned about new things and went to new places on every trip. Most of all, I enjoyed the class tremendously. Jack always wore a smile to greet whoever came to him. He always took the time to talk to students who had a problem or just wanted to talk. His door was always open to students. He was one of the few teachers who you could talk to and he would listen. Jack really cared about his students and it showed. He was like a friend to all his students. I am glad I was able to have a class with him to know him better as a person then as a Department Chair. Jack took the time to attend graduation despite his busy schedule. . I am glad he was one of the three people I shook hands with during the Graduation Ceremony. I remember him looking at me with a big smile and saying "Congratulations you did it". I am honored to have had him as a teacher and to know him as friend. I will miss him very much.
Troy C. Dick hat a great honor and privilege it has been to know Jack Mrowka. Although I was only able to have one field class with him, it felt like much more than that. His drive and enthusiasm kept such a quick and active pace to the class that it was an adventure just to be in the same vehicle with him or walk beside him (if you could keep up). His knowledge and memory was incredible. He knew something about everything. He would tell a story about every hill, every type of cloud or fog, every pattern of urbanization (or lack of it), even about the cattle in the fields, every mile from here to Bodega Bay. Standing in the river taking measurements (fully dressed with jeans and a tie), on his knees digging into the ground for soil samples, hiking up hill carrying way too much stuff and going faster than all the students, yet at the same time always caring about the students and the topic for the day are what I remember about him. He had time for students even when he was already doing 5 other things. No matter what time of day it was if I walked into the Geography office and he was there, he would poke his head out of his office, say hello and ask if there was anything he could do for me. He was an encourager who always made me feel proud to be a student of Geography. His hands-on style of teaching, his wonderful and memorable slide-shows and his infectious positive attitude made Geography come to life for me. I am a better person for knowing him.
Tia Manley
When
I entered the CSUS Geography Department in the Fall of 1993, I always
viewed the professors and staff of the department as one big family who
strived to help students and promote the discipline. Professor Jack
Mrowka was a part of that family, and with his passing, there is a loss
that can never be replaced. But fond memories of him and how he
contributed to each of our lives will always remain.
A year and a half later, I attended the APCG Conference in Spokane,
Washington, giving my first paper at a conference related to my Masters
Thesis research. I was a scholarship recipient recognized at the
reception as a student at UC Davis. I remember Jack was in attendance,
letting colleagues know around him that I attended CSUS for Geography
too. Although I had but one class with Jack Mrowka, I feel as though I've lost a close friend indeed. And this alone speaks volumes about the man he was. Of Jack's many qualities, my favorites were his friendliness and his modesty. Regardless of his position and accomplishments, I never felt that Jack treated me as anything but an equal. He was as approachable as he was knowledgeable, as helpful as he was talented. Jack obviously loved what he did and wanted to share his passion with those around him. No matter how busy he was, and it seemed that he was always busy, he would drop everything to answer a question or help with a problem. The world could use a lot more like him. Although he is gone, the important thing is that he made a positive impact on the people he knew. And we will always remember him fondly.
Neal Bergquist It has been over a decade since I last spoke with Jack Mrowka in person but his spirit was one of such enthusiasm and generosity that he has remained a very clear personality to me. I remember him as being without artifice or pretension. He was real. He was genuine. And I remember him as a man who gave generously of his time, his knowledge and his abundant energy and who spoke frequently and with great love of his wife, Kathy, and of his children. Jack was one of several CSUS Geography Department professors who made a significant contribution to my love of geography and my decision to pursue a career in this field. I took several of his classes, did an independent research project under his guidance and spent countless hours talking to him about graduate schools and potential career paths. I have no doubt that the letter of recommendation he wrote for me was one of the reasons I was able to attend the graduate school of my choice. I was far older than the average student but he saw that as no obstacle and encouraged me to go after the career that I wanted. And I have. Thank you for believing in me, Jack. He really cared about his students and did all he could, in so many ways, to help them. Whether it was teaching, advising, sharing his experience as a geographer, offering encouragement, or being a student’s number one cheerleader, he was there, present in the moment and doing his enthusiastic best. I have many memories of Jack and I’m grateful for them. I remember he had a license plate that read something like “WLDRIVER”. He said that the police stopped him occasionally, thinking it meant Wild Driver and not being too happy about that, and Jack would have to explain it meant Wild River. Rivers will always remind me of Jack and his passion for them. He passed that passion along joyously to any student who cared to listen and those of us who did gained something in the listening. His field trips were memorable, varied and interesting. One of them, to some vernal pools, was so fascinating that Sue Markie and I decided to do a vernal pool research project. Jack enthusiastically agreed to oversee our work and spent several Saturday mornings slogging through the fields with us. I’m sure he had many other things he could have been doing but he never let on. He treated us and our work with respect. When I think of Jack, it seems to me that at least part of his legacy is that there are so many people who are the better for having known him. He had such a generous spirit. I’m so sad that he has gone so soon.
Meredith Fordyce Jack was such a special man and teacher, I will always remember him with great fondness, respect and admiration. I always looked forward to his classes, especially his Friday field course. Nikki brags that she got to take the field course twice, and I for that I am envious of her. Jack will be missed deeply by so many, I just hope that his family can find comfort in knowing that so many friends share in their grief. Donna Prince I just visited the website after some time...and I'm so sad to hear about Jack. I'm in South Carolina at USC, getting my Masters in Geography, thanks to Jack especially. He wrote me a letter of recommendation, and I know I wouldn't be here without his help. He had a great spirit. Upon my arrival at USC this fall Dr. James and Dr. Mock immediately asked about Jack --wanting to know how he and his rivers were. It will be difficult to tell them about Jack. He supported his students -- genuinely cared about us. A fact that was evident in everything he did. I wish I could have thanked him. We will miss you Jack.
Jamie King I can't believe Dr. Mwrowka is gone. Combing through the CSUS Arts & Sciences Today newsletter, I was hoping to find highlights of accomplishments by geographers. I was shocked to see "In Memoriam" with Jack's picture beside it. He was one of the most enthusiastic teachers I've ever had. Dr. Mwrowka genuinely loved geography, particularly hydrology (the man built a river in his backyard for goodness sake!) and it showed! He was a man with a big brain and had a keen talent for explaining challenging concepts to us "little brains." To this day, I remember many of the concepts he taught (it's been over a decade since I've been in one of his classes) and apply them to my teaching. One quick memory of him was when he took a group of us on a field trip and he recalled the first time he met his wife and their engagement story. He was so fond of his family, and, even though I made fun of him, it was a touching story! I've been amazed how impactful teachers can be on their students - even decades later - and Dr. Mwrowka has had one of the most positive impressions on my life! Sabrina Gilliam I was a student in a few of his geography classes in the early 1990's as I was working on obtaining my degree in Social Science. As I was checking in my spare time to see who was still on board in the Geography Department, I was saddened to hear of Professor Mrowka's passing. I remember him as a very genuine man who loved teaching geography and showing his famous slides of the many places he had been in the world. I specifically had him for Latin and South American Geography and some of his stories and other things he had to say about the area still stick in my mind. Thanks Professor Mrowka for making a difference and for inspiring me to incorporate Geography and slides as well into my curriculum as a 7th grade World History teacher. David Rathjen |
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This
particular young woman was especially attractive to him because she had
a background in civil engineering and was conversant in matters relating
to stream hydraulics. The Manning and Chézy equations. Reynolds
number, Froude number. Kathy's number! She also made candy. Jack was
dazzled.