Obituary for Thaddeus V. Gromada
Thaddeus V. Gromada passed away on August 10th, 2025 in Greensboro, NC. A child of Polish immigrants, Dr. Gromada was born July 30, 1929 in Passaic, NJ on the eve of the Great Depression, shortly after his parents, Jan W Gromada and Aniela Pudzisz Gromada, emigrated to this country. Through hard work, he rose out of poverty to become a great scholar of Eastern European history and a tireless promoter of Polish culture, especially that of the Tatra mountain region from which his family originated.
The first person to graduate from college in his family, he received his BS magna cum laude from Seton Hall University and his MA and PhD degrees from Fordham University majoring in East Central European History. His mentor was Professor Oskar Halecki, an eminent Polish historian. After serving two years (1953-1955) in the US Army Signal Corps, he joined the faculty of New Jersey City University in Jersey City where he attained the rank of Full Professor of European History and also Coordinator of Multi-Ethnic and Immigration Studies.
Dr. Gromada was author, editor, and contributor to several books and scholarly journals on topics dealing with Polish foreign policy in the Inter War period, Polish-Czech-Slovak relations, U.S. Immigration & Ethnic Studies and Polish Tatra Folk Culture. In recent years he wrote a memoir, “My Years In and Out of ‘The Ivory Tower’”, and edited a collection of writings about his mentor, “Oskar Halecki 1891-1973, Eulogies and Reflections” Along with his sister, Janina Gromada Kedron, he edited and published, from 1947-2019, a quarterly publication, Tatrzański Orzeł/The Tatra Eagle, devoted to the folk culture of the Tatra Highland (góral) region and its diaspora in America.
Gromada was a frequent consultant to the Federal Department of Education, New Jersey Higher Education, National Education Association, Smithsonian Institution, PBS Television, and the Learning Corporation on the production of educational films. Governor Thomas Kean of NJ appointed him Chairman of the Governors Commission on Eastern European History. He had a long association with the Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences (PIASA), a learned society based in New York City, serving as Secretary General, Executive Director, President and trustee. Dr. Gromada also served as Vice-Chair of The Kosciuszko Foundation.
He was an active member of many scholarly organizations that included the American Historical Association, Association for Slavic, East European Eurasian Studies, PIASA, and Polish American Historical Association (PAHA).
Among his many honors, he was awarded the prestigious Commander’s Cross of Merit in 2000 by the President of Poland, and in 2017 he was elected foreign member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków, Poland. That same year he was awarded the “Honoris Gratia” medal by the Mayor of the Royal City of Kraków, Prof. Jacek Majchrowski. Friend and colleague to luminaries like Pope John Paul II and Zbigniew Brzezinski, Dr. Gromada was well known and respected in the Polish-American and Polish academic worlds.
As a firm believer of cultural pluralism and inter-ethnic cooperation, he participated in the “New Pluralism” movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s which led to dialogue, consultations with many ethnic groups. He actively cooperated with the U.S. Department of Education in the implementation of the Ethnic Heritage Act passed by Congress. During the Bicentennial Celebration on July 4, 1976 in Washington D.C. Gromada and his family performed as members of the Polish Highlander Music and Dance Group of Passaic, NJ during the festival of American Folklike organized by the Smithsonian Institution on National Mall.
Dr. Gromada is survived by his devoted wife of seventy-three years, Theresa (Terry) Michalski Gromada, and his beloved sister Jane (Janina) Gromada Kedron of Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, as well as his children Joseph, John, and Ann Gromada Flynt and six grandchildren, James and Katherine Flynt, Sara and Andrew Gromada, Aniela Gromada Cohig and Sylvie Gromada. Upon retirement Dr. Gromada moved with his wife from first Seabrook Island, SC, Bermuda Run, NC., and then to Greensboro, NC.
A memorial mass will be held on Friday September 5th at 10AM at St Joseph RC Church, 7 Parker Avenue Passaic, NJ.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Authoracare Hospice Foundation www.authoracare.org/give or The Polish Museum of America www.polishmuseumofamerica.org/
