Leo Gurko
{{short description|American writer}}
Leo Gurko (January 4, 1914 – 2008) was a Polish-American author who primarily wrote biographies between the 1940s and 1970s. Of his works, Gurko received a Newbery Honor for Tom Paine, Freedom's Apostle in 1958. Gurko later published two books on Joseph Conrad and one each on Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe. Outside of literature, Gurko was a first reader for Macmillan Inc. between 1936 and 1962. During this time period, Gurko started teaching English at Hunter College in 1938 and was the college's English head from 1954 to 1960.
Early life and education
On January 4, 1914, Gurko was born in Warsaw, Poland.{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Harte |editor1-first=Barbara |editor2-last=Riley |editor2-first=Carolyn |encyclopedia=Contemporary Authors |title=Gurko, Leo 1914- |url=https://archive.org/details/contemporaryauth5-8gale/page/490/mode/2up |access-date=2 May 2020 |year=1969 |publisher=Gale Research Company |location=Detroit |volume=5–8 |edition=First Revision |lccn=62-52046 |page=491}} During his childhood, Gurko attended schools in New York state, Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan.{{cite news |title=Polish Youth, 13, Ends High School |work=Lansing State Journal |date=9 July 1927 |page=Nine}} While completing his education, Gurko wanted to play baseball for the Detroit Tigers. He later wanted to work in diplomacy, spying and overseas correspondence after reading works by E. Phillips Oppenheim.{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=De Montreville |editor1-first=Doris |editor2-last=Hill |editor2-first=Donna |encyclopedia=Third Book of Junior Authors |title=Leo Gurko |url=https://archive.org/details/thirdbookofjunio00demo/page/114/mode/2up/ |access-date=1 May 2020 |year=1972 |publisher=H.W. Wilson Company |location=New York |isbn=0824204085 |page=114}} After completing high school at the age of thirteen, Gurko received a Bachelor of Arts from the College of the City of Detroit in 1931. Gurko later attended the University of Wisconsin during the early 1930s for a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy.{{cite encyclopedia |last=Commire |first=Anne |encyclopedia=Something About the Author |title=Gurko, Leo 1914- |url=https://archive.org/details/somethingaboutau09anne/page/88/mode/2up |access-date=2 May 2020 |year=1976 |publisher=Gale Research |location=Detroit |volume=9 |isbn=0810300664 |page=88}}
Career
Gurko began his career as an editor for G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1934. In 1936, Gurko became a first reader for Macmillan Inc. and stayed with Macmillan until 1962. During this time period, Gurko became an English instructor for Hunter College in 1938. After being promoted to professor, he later became the English division head in 1954 and remained in his executive position until 1960. During his professorship at Hunter, Gurko received a fellowship from Dodd, Mead & Co. for an unpublished version of The Angry Decade in March 1947.{{cite news |title=Hunter College Professor Wins $2,000 MS Award |work=KIngsport Times-News |date=2 March 1947 |page=7A}} The Angry Decade was published later that year and was about the ten-year gap between the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the attack on Pearl Harbor.{{cite news |last1=Ware |first1=Harlan |title=America's Angry Decade |work=Pasadena Star-News |date=26 October 1947 |page=27}}
In the 1950s, Gurko released Heroes, Highbrows, and the Popular Mind in 1953.{{cite news |last1=Rogers |first1=W. G. |title=Guidepost the Literary |work=Madisonville Messenger |date=October 20, 1953 |page=sec. 5 p. Three}} In 1957, Gurko wrote about Thomas Paine with Tom Paine, Freedom's Apostle.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=David H. |title=Tom Paine's Hectic Life |work=Sioux Falls Argus-Leader |date=June 16, 1957 |page=9-C}} The following year, his children's biography on Paine received a Newbery Honor in 1958.{{cite news |last1=Babb |first1=Stanley E. |title=New Library Books For Young Readers |work=Galveston News |date=November 30, 1958 |page=35}}{{cite web |title=Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1922-Present |url=http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal |publisher=American Library Association |accessdate=3 May 2020}} During the early 1960s, Gurko continued to write biographies with works on Joseph Conrad in 1962 and 1965.{{cite news |last1=Inge |first1=M. Thomas |title=A New Look at Conrad |work=The Tennessean |date=9 September 1962 |page=12-E}}{{cite news |last1=Briggs |first1=Jon |title=The Heart of Darkness |work=Courant Magazine |date=24 October 1965 |page=15}} Apart from Conrad, Gurko put out a book about Ernest Hemingway in 1968 and one on Thomas Wolfe in 1975.{{cite news |last1=Shulze |first1=Margaret |title=Aspects of Heroism |work=Courant Magazine |date=18 August 1968 |page=14}}Commire 1976, p. 89 In 1979, Gurko republished his 1962 Conrad biography with a newly added preface.{{cite news |last1=Hershman |first1=Marcie |title=Short Takes |work=The Boston Globe |date=10 June 1979 |page=C18}}
Personal life
Gurko was married and had two children before his death in 2008.{{cite news |title=Jane Gurko |work=Ukiah Daily Journal |date=December 14, 2010 |page=2}}
Gurko formed a friendship with writer Michael Stutz towards the end of his life, whose work he called "apocalyptic."{{cite web |title=Only the Dead Know 'Only the Dead Know Brooklyn'|url=https://stutz.substack.com/p/only-the-dead-know-only-the-dead |website=Stutzstack |date=16 January 2024 |accessdate=16 Jan 2024}}
References
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Category:Date of death missing
Category:Place of death missing
Category:Polish emigrants to the United States
Category:Hunter College faculty