AASP Primary Records Program

PALYNOS 11(1): p. 4-5, 1988.

RYSZARD FUGLEWICZ
1940-1987

Although showing no signs of ill health, Dr. Ryzsard Fuglewicz, leading Polish palynologist and biostratigrapher at the University of Warsaw, died suddenly on December 27, 1987 at age 47.

He was born in Przemyslany near Lvov (USSR) on March 24, 1940. He began a major in geology at Lvov University, then completed his advanced education at the University of Warsaw. Since 1964 he has been a member of the faculty Department of Geology at the University of Warsaw.

His initial palynological research dealt with the utilization of megaspores to delinate the stratigraphy of the Lower Triassic (=Buntersandstein) in Poland. He described 76 species (66 were new) of megaspores in the Buntersandstein sequences of Poland; these palynomorphs made it possible to recognize three Assemblage Zones in the Lower Triassic of Poland. Many of the species he described were recognized later in Triassic horizons in other parts of Europe and even on other continents, e.g., in some Lower Triassic deposits of China.

About 15 years later his research in the Tatra Mountains (Carpathians) revealed the same assemblages of megaspores in the Lower Triassic of the Alpine facies; this enabled him to correlate the Germanic and Alpine facies of the Lower Triassic. More recently, he described large collections of megaspores from Mesozoic horizons in Crimea and Cuba, as well as numerous Devonian megaspores obtained from boreholes in Poland.

Dr. Ryszard Fuglewicz was a respected lecturer in geology at the University of Warsaw and an indefatigable research worker in the field; thus he attracted many students into palynology and biostratigraphy. Not only was he regarded as a leading authority on the stratigraphic significance of megaspores, but also his concepts of plate tectonics during the Triassic were highly respected. He was very active right up to the last moments of his life. He was a good friend.

Stanislaw Orlowski
Department of Geology
University of Warsaw
Warsaw, Poland