Edward A. Jajko (1940-2022)submitted by Middle Eastern Librarians Association (MELA)
It may be best to offer in place of an obituary Ed’s brief memoir, “A Look Back,” published in MELA Notes 80 (2007), pp. 1-26. He begins with two epigraphs: first, paraphrasing al-Ghazali: “For you have asked me, my brethren in librarianship, about the reasons why I have done this or that,” and second, quoting the fictional Turkish head of the British Secret Service’s Istanbul branch in “From Russia with Love”: “I’ve had a particularly fascinating life. Would you like to hear about it?” What follows is only the barest outline of this fascinating life. Ed Jajko was born in Philadelphia in 1940, the son of Wladyslaw and Aniela (Luszcak). His memoir reveals his pride in his Polish heritage, and he is listed in the first edition of “Who’s Who in Polish America” (Bicentennial Publishing Corp.: 1996). Ed’s undergraduate education at the University of Pennsylvania in 1962 focused on archaeology, Hebrew, and Arabic. He then pursued advanced Arabic study at the Center for Arabic Study (AUC) from 1965-1967 along with additional graduate work in Arabic and Hebrew at the University of Pennsylvania between 1963 and 1969. In graduate school he was drawn to librarianship, completing a Master of Science degree from Columbia’s School of Library Service in 1970. That year he joined Yale University Library as Near East Bibliographer/Cataloguer, responsible for Yale’s Judaica and Near East collections, becoming Curator of the Middle East Collection by the time of his departure in 1982. He moved on to serve as Middle East curator at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, retiring in 2003. Ed was a “joiner,” serving on school committees and on the parish advisory council of his church, St. Joseph of Cupertino, CA. Ed leaves behind beloved wife Pamela (Frazer), children Edward and Angela, and many loving family members, friends, and former colleagues. |