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HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. — Walter J. Kuskowski, of Hastings-on-Hudson, died March 5. He was 89.
Kuskowski was born on Aug. 16, 1923 in Brooklyn, N.Y. to Anastasia (Dulski) and Edward Kuskowski.
During his three decades of teaching social studies at John Ericsson Junior High School in Brooklyn, he was among the first teachers of Holocaust studies in the New York City public schools.
Kuskowski became a consultant for the New York State curriculum guide, teaching about the Holocaust and Genocide.
He served as a consultant at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
His volunteer work for the Kosciuszko Foundation also included activities promoting Polish American and Jewish American relations, planning and arranging tours of Poland for American educators, teaching English in Poland, and selecting scholarship recipients for graduate studies in the United States and Poland.
He was co-founder and president emeritus of the Polish American Teachers Association.
Kuskowski is survived by his wife, Christine; a son, Mark J. Kuskowski (Cheryl); a daughter, Nancy Nieves; stepchildren Joseph Adam Lukasik (Jennifer) and Valerie Anne Lukasik Harden (Michael); five grandchildren; and many cousins in Poland.
Calling hours will be Sunday, March 11, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Edwards-Dowdle Funeral Home, 64 Ashford Ave., Dobbs Ferry. A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday, March 11, at St. Matthew R. C. Church, 616 Warburton Ave, Hastings-on-Hudson.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Kosciuszko Foundation for the Teaching English in Poland Program or to the Hastings-on-Hudson Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
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