Paul J. Lukasiewicz

With great sadness we announce that Paul Joseph Lukasiewicz, 85, of New Haven, CT, died of heart and lung failure the evening of July 4, 2022 at Yale New Haven Hospital. He was the son of Frank A. and Stella M. Kordaszewska Lukasiewicz, brother to the late Marie R. Stephens, Lawrence F. Lucas Sr., and Diane E. Hennessey. Paul is survived by a cousin, five nieces, four nephews, and many friends. He was predeceased by a nephew in 2004.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 3, 1937, Paul spent the first part of his life in a close, extended family among the then vibrant Polish-American community in the Dorchester and South Boston neighborhoods. It was there that Paul acquired his love of family, of community, the Red Sox (especially Carl Yastrzemski), and a notable, enduring pride of his Polish heritage that he would be forever known for.

In his late teens, Paul entered seminary at St. Lawrence Friary for the Franciscan Fathers, in Becket, Massachusetts, leaving in 1958 after the death of his mother. His father died a few months later. Unmoored, he followed a cousin to Chicago, Illinois, whereupon he took up studies at the University of Chicago, eventually gaining him employment at Northwestern University. There he became friends with a colleague whom he would follow to Yale University in 1965. First working in the Law Library, he soon transferred to the Mathematics Library where, over his 50 year tenure, often as the only staff member, he tripled the size of the collection while gaining an understanding of the requisite cataloguing systems and numerous other responsibilities of a librarian. His dedication and excellence in service earned him the admiration, loyalty and gratitude of professors, staff and students of the Mathematics Department.

In addition, for many years, his part-time employment as a limousine and bus driver for Connecticut Limousine helped him afford the generosity that he would routinely bestow upon his friends and family.

After retirement in 2017, he spent his remaining years nourished by the many friendships he had made in the New Haven area and by visits with his cousins, nephews and nieces, and by a few trips to the casino every now and then, too. Paul will be remembered for abiding pride in his Polish-American heritage, love of polka music and dance, and devotion to family and friends. He will be valued for his uncommon gentility, generosity and kindness to all.

Visiting hours will be held Thursday, August 18, 2022 from 10 to 11:30am in Lupinski Funeral Home, 821 State Street, New Haven. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven at 12pm. On September 29, 2022 a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in his childhood parish, Our Lady of Czestochowa, 655 Dorchester Ave., Boston, Massachusetts, at 10am followed by burial of his ashes at New Calvary Cemetery, Boston (Mattapan), Massachusetts. Contributions in Paul’s memory may be made to St. Stanislaus Church, 9 Eld Street, New Haven, CT 06511 or to a charity of one’s choice. Share a memory and sign the guestbook online for Paul at www.lupinskifuneralhome.com