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Today is a day to remember Joseph P. Kazickas (April 16, 1918 - July 9, 2014), Founder of the Kazickas Family Foundation who would have celebrated his 98th Birthday.
In Memoriam
Joseph P. Kazickas passed peacefully at home in East Hampton, NY on July 9, 2014 at the age of 96. A devoted family man, a statesman, a generous philanthropist, he led a wonderfully full, productive and exciting life. Born in 1918 on the steppes of Russia where his ancestors had been banished from their homeland of Lithuania by the Czars, he returned to Lithuania as a young boy but was forced to flee again in 1944 when Communists invaded. After three years in displaced persons camps in Germany, he won a fellowship to Yale University to study for his doctorate in economics, and with his wife Alexandra and daughter Jurate settled happily in America. He had a successful career as a businessman and entrepreneur and was always grateful for the opportunities his new country gave him. But he never forgot his homeland during the nearly 50 dark years of Soviet occupation. He worked relentlessly to help secure its freedom - lobbying US government officials and supporting the independence movement Sajudis. When Lithuania was an independent country again, he helped bring in global business, established the first cellular phone company and created a family foundation to support educational, cultural and social causes. For his many good works, he received numerous honors from universities, organizations, and the Lithuanian government.
But family was his first and foremost enduring love and pride. He adored his beloved Alexandra who died at age 91 just weeks before their 70th wedding anniversary. He was a loving father to Jurate and sons Joseph, Michael and John and suffered the loss of Alexander who died in 1976. He was a doting, playful grandfather to 11 wonderful grandchildren, inspiring them and sharing his advice and wisdom . He will always be remembered for his enthusiastic love of life, his charm , his many friendships, and his never-ending gratitude to God Almighty for the countless blessings in his life.
Please read "Tribute to Dad"
"My parents bequeathed in me a joy in living that I've never lost. They lived their lives according to four principles: love and support inside the family, hard work every day, a thirst for knowledge and the relentless pursuit of freedom. They never put these beliefs into words; they simply lived by them and the example they gave me was their greatest legacy."-Joseph P. Kazickas from Odyssey of Hope
Joseph P. Kazickas learned the joy of giving and generosity from his earliest years. He remembered his mother silently giving away her last bits of bread to a beggar. His father, Mykolas, who had a small shop in the front of their two room house a tiny village in Lithuania, always gave away his sugar and coffee goods to those who could not afford to pay. He was a kind, sensitive and gentle man and his death when Joseph was only 11 years old was a tragic loss.
But all these wordless lessons in Christian charity sank into his child's mind and stayed with him for the rest of his life.
With a successful career as a business entrepreneur, Kazickas joined the Lithuanian Foundation in Chicago and was on its board of directors for 16 years. In newly independent Lithuania in the early 1990s, recognizing the importance of technology, he donated more than a thousand computers to schools all over Lithuania. Committed to working full time for the betterment of his homeland, he founded the Kazickas Family Foundation in 1998.
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