Mark Kulikowski, an Oswego State professor, passed away on Jan. 14, at age 63 due to a sudden cardiac event. Kulikowski had been teaching courses in Russian history and Eastern history, among others, at Oswego State since the 1980s.

According to his colleague and longtime friend, Christopher Mack, Kulikowski’s courses were always full. Sophomore Brianne Branco said Kulikowski’s courses were both educational and engaging.

“One thing I love about learning from him was that you could feel his passion for what he was teaching, which made it all the more better for me as his student,” Branco said. “He was friendly, amicable, approachable, and most importantly, he was there to help you, always.”

Outside the classroom, Kulikowski could be found researching and obtaining materials to donate to archives and libraries globally. He even donated materials and has collections named after him, at the Library of Congress and other institutions, such as Binghamton University, where he received his doctorate.

Kulikowski gathered materials at the collapse of the Soviet Union and donated them all to Eastern European libraries.

He donated materials he had sought out to make the information he found available to everyone.

“He not only did that for the purpose of history as a discipline, but he did that for all of us in the department,” Mack said.

At Oswego State, he spent many years on the Campus-Wide Library Committee.

“That’s not surprising, given his commitment to bibliographies and to the acquisition of these materials,” Mack said.

Frank Byrne, professor and chair of the history department, said Kulikowski was “really into saving history.”

Other passions of Kulikowski’s included meditation, yoga and dance. He was very interested in both physical and mental health. Combining many of his interests, he donated the materials he found to the Library of Dance, located at the University of Texas at Austin.

“His interests were extremely wide ranged, and so he and I would get together and talk about super ridiculous things like our love for Monty Python, but also about history and historical scholarship,” Mack said. 

Kulikowski passed away about a week before classes resumed for the spring semester, meaning one of his courses had to be cancelled and other professors took over his other courses. The recent news was surprising to both students and faculty, many of whom knew Kulikowski well.

“He was sort of the glue in many respects of the department, and so, it was quite a shock hearing about his death,” Byrne said. “He was 63, but there was no inkling of poor health or anything, and so just starting the semester without him, it’s a little surreal.”

Something those who were close to Kulikowski knew was how friendly and genuine he was and how passionate he was about educating each generation of students.

“He was truly an amazing professor who really cared about his students and about this campus, and he will be really missed by everyone,” Branco said. “It was an amazing experience having been his student for the time that I was able to, and no one will ever replace him.”

Looking toward the future, there is an idea to have a remembrance or memorial for Kulikowski where students, faculty and staff can gather and share their memories of him. Ideally, the remembrance will be held in the spring when the weather improves so his mother can come to campus and attend.

Byrne also said there would be a memory book to which students can contribute  stories and pictures. The book will be a gift to Kulikowski’s mother, and more information will be sent out to the history majors and minors.

“He was renowned around the department for just dropping into people’s offices,” Mack said with a smile. “What looked like it would be a 10 minute conversation would turn into a two hour discussion, and that’s what I’ll remember the most about him, just those moments of extended discussion and friendship.”

Photo provided by The Oswego State History Department