The Institute is a non-profit organization, subsisting on membership fees, cash donations, grants, and wills. We encourage everyone who cares about the good of an important Polish cultural institution to keep the Institute in their thoughts.
The generous inheritance comes from Anna Bohomolec Farman, born on August 28, 1906, and passed away on December 7, 2003. During World War II, Anna Bohomolec was active in the French resistance movement and worked in the Polish and French Red Cross. After the war, she married Colonel Elbert Farman, the first American military attaché in Warsaw between 1919-1923.
Another substantial bequest comes from Jan Weiss, born on December 20, 1913, and died on June 26, 2002. He was a long-time member of the Institute's Council and the head of the library. Before World War II, he graduated from the Department of Law and Economics at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv, during the September Campaign, he fought in the 27th Light Artillery Regiment with the Pomeranian Army. After deportation to the Soviet Union, Mr. Weiss joined the ranks of the Polish Army under the command of General W. Anders, and along with the Second Corps fought in Italy. After the war, he settled in the United States where for many years he was an employee of the Houghton Library at Harvard University. When he reached retirement age, he moved to New York and worked pro bono in the Institute's library. Thanks to his work, the card catalog of the library was created.
In 2001, the Institute received a bequest from Tadeusz Leser, who was born in 1908 in Lviv and passed away on March 28, 2000. He was a soldier for the Second Polish Republic as well as a graduate of the Military Engineering School in Warsaw and University of London. During World War II, he served out West in the Polish Army. After the war he went into exile in the United States and became a scientist, mathematician, and longtime employee of the Ballistic Research Laboratory. Additionally, Tadeusz Leser came to be a long-time member of the Institute.
In 2020, the Piłsudski Institute received a bequest from Marek Zieliński, PhD. longtime Vice President of the Institute.
Marek Zieliński was born in Łódź, where he graduated from the University of Technology and received a doctorate from the Center for Molecular Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. During the "Solidarity" period, he published the "Poglądy" magazine along with a group of friends. In 1981, he received a scholarship at New York University, with which he was associated for the next several years. Later he worked as a software architect for publishers New York Times and Boston Globe. He was also the founder of one of the first companies providing Internet access in Poland. Mr. Zieliński was associated with the Institute since 1981. In 2006, he initiated a program of digitization of archival resources. It is thanks to his hard work that the Institute has become a leading institution in the field of digitization of archives.
We are very grateful to all our donors. If you are interesting in leaving a bequest to Pilsudski Institute please contact our office: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
To include the Institute in your plans please use our legal name:
Pilsudski Institute of America
138 Greenpoint Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222
Federal Tax ID number: 23-7164776