Obituary for Norbert Swislocki

Norbert I. Swislocki passed away after a long illness on Sunday, June 21, 2020 at his home on the river in Grand View-on-Hudson, New York. Norbert was born in 1936 in Warsaw, Poland. He escaped with his mother in 1939 after the Nazis bombed Warsaw, and they joined his father in Vilnius. His father was a journalist, and was following the Polish Army. In Vilnius, the Swislockis were able to obtain one of the historic Sugihara visas, named for the Japanese consul, which allowed them to cross the Soviet Union and reach Kobe, Japan.

They departed from Japan on a boat and reached Shanghai, China shortly before Pearl Harbor and remained there throughout WWII. After settling in Los Angeles, Norbert eventually obtained his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Biochemistry from UCLA. Following that, he completed a post doctoral fellowship at Brandeis University before he joined Sloan Kettering, where he conducted research on red blood cells and aging. Subsequently, he was appointed Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where he later became Associate Dean of Research. Although Norbert never hunted, he was an excellent marksman and made it to the Olympic trials in target shooting. Norbert is survived by his wife of 29 years, Jane Lattes-Swislocki, his brother, Arthur Swislocki, his children, Madeline Becker and Mark Swislocki, his step-children, Jain Lattes, Lisa Lattes, Abigail Lattes and Conrad Lattes, and his grandchildren Adam and Max Becker, and Casimir Swislocki, Emma, Sophia and Ben Lattes, Anabel, Eliza, Helen and Angus Carter, Edwin and Emmett Hartlove, and Marina and Neko Thayer. He is greatly missed by everyone, even by his dog, Bon Prix, and will be remembered by all who knew him for his wisdom, humor, intelligence , honesty, and encyclopedic knowledge of anything related to WWII. When it is possible to congregate freely, Norbert’s wife, Jane, hopes to plan a get-together to honor him at the new iteration of the restaurant where they had their first date.