Obituary
© Archive material of the Forest Research Institute of the
General Directorate of State Forests in Poland
Prof. Dr. habil. Tomasz Zawiła-Niedźwiecki
26. November 1954 – 23. April 2024
We were deeply saddened to receive the news last week that our friend and colleague Prof. Dr. habil. Tomasz Zawiła-Niedźwiecki passed away in Warsaw at the age of 69.
Between 2002 and 2007, he made a significant contribution to establishing the first international Master's degree programme in Forest Information Technology (FIT) at our university in cooperation with the Warsaw University of Natural Sciences; from 2005 as deputy director. During this time, he lived with his family, his wife Anna and their children Zofia and Witold, in the center of Eberswalde. Eberswalde companions and friends as well as international guest lecturers and students fondly remember his cheerful summer parties in the garden of the Sonnenvilla and his fine sense of humor.
He accompanied many specialists in the field of environmental information technology not only during their training, but also as a mentor, such as Dr. Addo Koranteng from the Technical University of Kumasi (Ghana), who is currently a guest lecturer at the Faculty of Forest and Environment.
Originally from Krakow, he studied forestry science and was head of the Remote Sensing Department at the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography in Warsaw, where he obtained his doctorate in remote sensing in 1990. After working at the Department of Remote Sensing and Forest Management at the University of Ghent (Belgium), he completed his habilitation at the Warsaw University of Natural Sciences in 1994. In the years 1992-2000, the internationally renowned lecturer qualified public administration executives organized by FAO, ESA and the International University of Remote Sensing (Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Poland and Romania).
In the years 1992-2000, the internationally renowned lecturer qualified public administration executives organized by the FAO, ESA and the International University of Remote Sensing (Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Poland and Romania). From 2008 to 2013, Prof. Dr. habil. Tomasz Zawiła-Niedźwiecki was Director of the Forestry Institute of our neighboring country Poland. In the past decade, until 2023, he chaired the Committee for Forest Sciences and Wood Technology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The author of over 200 scientific publications, he was a respected scientist and lecturer in the field of geomatics and remote sensing both in Poland and abroad.
The Faculty of Forest and Environment has lost a colleague and friend whose life and work had and continues to have a great influence on the lives of many people around the world.
