Casimir John Psujek, deeply beloved husband of Marie Donovan and father of Shiloh Psujek, passed away on Sunday, 27 September after an over seven-year battle with ALK+ lung cancer. Born in a shack on stilts in a bayou in Welsh, Louisiana to Stanislaus and Anna Psujek, Polish refugees who met in a German displaced persons camp at the end of WWII, the family migrated to the Detroit area in 1952 and settled in the town of New Haven. Cas was a proud graduate of the University of Michigan and Stony Brook University-New York, earning degrees in physics and astronomy, with a minor in Nordic literature. A trained stellar astronomer, he shifted into academic publishing when federal funding evaporated, and the available telescopes became over-subscribed with years-long wait lists. He worked in editorial acquisitions, editorial production, and marketing at IEEE, Academic Press, Random House, Dorsey Press, and the University of Chicago Press, making lifelong friends along the way. He enjoyed his relatively few retirement years by religiously sleeping until 10am daily; completing both the NYT and Wall Street Journal crosswords as well as Sudoku, Connections, and Wordle every day; learning the ukelele and composing songs; and skiing, golfing, and playing as much tennis as humanly possible with his cherished CATS league partners.

In addition to his wife, Marie, daughter, Shiloh, and son-in law, James D’Arcangelo, Cas is survived by his in-laws, Ellen and Paul Randazzo and family, as well as Thomas Donovan and Susan Ruyle and family. His sister, Christine, predeceased him in 2010.

As per his directions, a memorial celebrating life—his and that of all who attend—will be held in early January. Should you wish, contributions in his memory to the DePaul University College of Education General Scholarship Fund would be greatly appreciated by all recipients and his family.