Jerzy Bazylewski, 89, a former Polish Army officer and a longtime member of a Polish scouting group in Chicago, died Sunday, Sept. 16, in Northwestern Memorial Hospital after a short illness. He was born in Turkmenistan, where his Polish family was exiled prior to World War I, and when he was 9, he and his family returned to Poland. Mr. Bazylewski studied chemistry at Jagiellonski University in Krakow and attended law school in Warsaw before joining the Polish Army as a lieutenant during World War II. Mr. Bazylewski and his unit were captured by German forces near Warsaw, and he spent five years in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany before being liberated by Canadian troops. In Germany after the war, Mr. Bazylewski helped more than 29,000 displaced Poles become scouts, organizing traditional scouting activities as well as support systems for education, housing, social interaction and resettlement. Mr. Bazylewski married Pelagia Walkowiak in 1947, and the couple moved to Chicago in 1951. For the rest of his life, Mr. Bazylewski actively served in Polish scouting as a troop leader, trainer, district commissioner, national director and chairman of the Polish Youth Association. Mr. Bazylewski also had been editor of The Scouting Chronicles since 1964, and he marched in every Polish Constitution Day Parade since 1951. “That was his life,” said his son, Conrad. “He had a very great love for Poland, and that was one way to keep in touch with Poland. He also lived the values of the scouts’ code.” Mr. Bazylewski worked as an electrical draftsman, retiring in 1977. He and his wife were longtime residents of Wicker Park, and they worked to save St. Mary of the Angels Church from demolition. “I think he was a person of very strongly held, deep personal values,” his son said. “He was a very ethical person, very honest, very devoted to self-sacrifice, and his principles were paramount to him.” Other survivors include his wife and a daughter, Grace. Visitation will be from 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday in Laskowski & Sons Funeral Home, 4540-50 W. Diversey Ave., Chicago. Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in St. Helen Catholic Church, 2315 W. Augusta Blvd., Chicago.
