PULLMAN, Wash. — Zuzanna Czuchajowska, 55, a nationally and internationally acclaimed cereal chemist at Washington State University, died Saturday evening in an auto accident on U.S. Highway 95 south of Coeur d’Alene.
Idaho State Police reported Czuchajowska died on impact, according to a news report in today’s (Monday, Jan. 25) Spokesman-Review. She reportedly was a passenger in a car driven by her husband, Leszek M. Czuchajowski.
Their daughter, Maria A. Czuchajowska, 17, and Kristina Farnsworth, 18, also were passengers in the Czuchajowska vehicle. All three survivors were taken Kootenai Medical Center where they were hospitalized. All are from Moscow, Idaho.
Czuchajowska was born Jan. 2, 1944 in Gruszow, Poland. She held masters’ and doctoral degrees from the Agriculture University at Krakow, Poland. She joined the WSU faculty as a program associate in 1987 and became head of the WSU food science and human nutrition department’s cereal chemistry program in 1996.
Czuchajowska received her U.S. citizenship in 1993.
Last spring she received the Faculty Excellence in Research Award from the WSU College of Agriculture and Home Economics, for 1997. She received the International Wheat Gluten Association Award in 1989, 1990 and 1992.
Since 1991, Czuchajowska had served as an associate editor of the journal, “Cereal Chemistry.”
“Dr. Czuchajowska ran a very large research group and advised many graduate students over the years. Currently she was working with six to eight graduate students,” said Alan McCurdy, chair of the WSU food science and human nutrition department. “She was quite respected in the field of quality added wheat research.” Czuchajowska also did research on adding value to other crops, such as peas, garbanzo beans and barley.
EDITORS:
Czuchajowska is the feminine form.
Czuchajowski is the masculine form.
Pronounciation: chew-ha-es-ka
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