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Marilyn Lucille Zimny[1]

Female 1927 - 2006  (78 years)


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  • Name Marilyn Lucille Zimny 
    Born 12 Dec 1927  Illinois Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Residence 1972  New Orleans, LA Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    _UID 5D30A1E714D36C45A5B9A021487880ABB79E 
    Died 7 Jan 2006  New Orleans, LA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 3
    Cause: Cancer 
    Memorial To Dr. Marilyn Zimny
    Memorial To Dr. Marilyn Zimny
    Notes 
    • American Men & Women of Science. A biographical directory of today's leaders in physical, biological, and related sciences. 12th edition, Physical & Biological Sciences. Seven volumes. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1971-1973. (AmMWSc 12P)

      LSU Health Sciences Center Tribute:

      Dr. Marilyn L. Zimny, Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and retired Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, peacefully passed away due to complications of cancer at 7:00 a.m. on January 7, 2006. She was born on December 12, 1927 in Chicago.

      Dr. Zimny retired after 44 years of service to the health professions in Louisiana in 1998, but it wasn?t long before she was pressed into service once more, serving as Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs at the LSU System from January 4, 2000 through June 30, 2002.

      "Marilyn Zimny was a unique and magnificent scholar, teacher and administrator, one of the best with whom I have ever been associated,? said Dr. William Jenkins, President of the LSU System. ?Our many collective memories of her will endure forever, as will her academic legacy. May she rest in well deserved peace."

      As the chief academic officer of both LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, and then the LSU System, Dr. Zimny worked closely with the Louisiana Board of Regents.

      "Marilyn was colorful, incisive and brilliant,? said Roland Toups, Chairman of the Louisiana Board of Regents. ?She was honest and never hesitant to speak her mind. She was also a lot of fun to be around. We will all miss her dearly."

      After earning her doctorate from Loyola University in Chicago in 1954, Dr. Zimny joined the LSU Health Sciences Center faculty as an Assistant Professor of Anatomy. She rose through the academic ranks after teaching and being awarded federal research funding, publishing 125 scientific articles including 66 scientific papers and 59 abstracts, becoming a full professor in 1964. In 1975, she became the first female head of anatomy at LSU Health Sciences Center and one of only four female anatomy department heads in the country.

      ?Marilyn Zimny was one of the most outstanding professors and administrators that LSU Health Sciences Center has ever had,? said Dr. Allen Copping, former LSU Health Sciences Center Chancellor and President Emeritus of the LSU System. ?Her loyalty and dedication were remarkable and served the LSU System and Louisiana well. The lives of all who knew her were immeasurably enriched.?

      In 1961 and 1962, Dr. Zimny was named to membership of a select group of faculty sent to San Jose, Costa Rica to establish a medical school there. Although not fluent in Spanish, she was determined to give her best to the students and so she spent each evening having her lectures translated and being tutored by a local physical therapist so she could give her daily anatomical presentations in their native tongue. She was honored at the 25th anniversary of the first graduating class of the Costa Rican Medical University.

      Her research in degenerative arthritis was considered to be tops in the field nationally. She was also nationally known for her studies in ground squirrels about the physiology of animal hibernation and its relationship to human body function, particularly metabolism. She fondly referred to the students working in her lab on these experiments as her ?ground squirrels? as well. She participated, by invitation of the Office of Naval Research, in the First and Second Symposia of Mammalian Hibernation at M.I.T. and in Helsinki, Finland. She took a sabbatical to work in electron microscopy at the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska. Her findings had application in increasing knowledge of how man might better survive harshly cold environments. Dr. Zimny served on the Biology Committee of the World Book Encyclopedia and was also a recognized authority on sports medicine.

      Beloved by many generations of LSU Health Sciences Center students, Dr. Zimny was awarded the Distinguished Faculty Service Award by the LSU Alumni Federation. At that time, the LSU Alumni News wrote, ?In her 15 LSU years, she has seen hundreds of her former students, later physicians, practice medicine across the length and width of Louisiana and beyond, to achieve a level of success and service which would elevate the heart rate of even the most staid of educators.? She was voted Best Pre-Clinical Lecturer by LSU Health Sciences Center students for three years in a row and Most Popular Teacher by the 1979 Class of LSU dental students. She was named an honorary member of the Theta Kappa chapter of Omicron Kappa Upsilon (the national dental honor society) and Alpha Omega Alpha (the national medical honor society).

      ?A gifted educator, Marilyn Zimny influenced thousands of young lives and careers, including my own,? said Dr. Larry Hollier, Chancellor of LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. ?But her generosity extended beyond sharing her extensive knowledge. She not only gave me a research job in her lab that resulted in the first three papers on my Curriculum Vitae, but she hired me to paint rental houses during the summers so I could earn living expenses. She had a wonderful sense of humor; everyone who knew her could recognize that joyous laugh in any crowd. She had a tremendous love of life, and this world will be a lesser place without her intelligence, kindness, and selflessness. A brilliant scientist in her own right, success to Marilyn Zimny was not measured by her own accomplishments, but by those of her students.?

      She was awarded an LSU Distinguished Faculty Fellowship in 1987, and a professorship was established in her name in LSU Health Sciences Center?s School of Medicine by the alumni in 1995. Dr. Zimny was given the Women in Medicine Award by LSUHSC?s School of Medicine in New Orleans in 1996.

      Reflecting upon the changes she saw during her academic tenure when she retired, one of the most notable was that more and more women were entering the health professions. ?When I began teaching at LSU in 1954, you were lucky to have a couple of women in the class. Now women represent about half of the class in medicine,? Dr. Zimny said in 1998.

      Dr. Zimny was elected President of the Association of Anatomy Chairmen and President of the Southern Society of Anatomists. She served as Program Secretary of the American Association of Anatomists from 1990-94 and served on its Executive Committee from 1981-85. She was Women Liaison Officer to the Association of American Medical Colleges for the Association of Anatomy Chairmen and she was President of the Louisiana Society for Electron Microscopy.

      Dr. Zimny was listed in The American Men of Science, Who?s Who of American Women, Who?s Who in the South and Southeast, Two Thousand Women of Achievement, Outstanding Educators of America, The World Who?s Who of Women, Who?s Who in America and Who?s Who in the World.

      Dr. Zimny is survived by her beloved friend, Ms. June ?T? Thomas, and seven cousins, Hazel Prucha of Western Springs, Illinois, Carol St. Ores, Denise St. Ores, Jacqueline St. Ores Larson, and Deborah St. Ores Moneyhan of Jacksonville, Florida, Dorothy Willin, of Glenview, Illinois, and Scott St. Ores of Yulee, Florida.

      Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, January 11, 2006 at Leitz-Eagan Funeral Home, 4747 Veterans Memorial Boulevard, Metairie, Louisiana. Visitation will be from 10:00 a.m. until the funeral mass which begins at 3:00 p.m. Dr. Zimny will be buried at St. Mary?s Cemetery and Mausoleums in Evergreen Park, Illinois with her parents, the late John and Lucile Zimny. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the LSU Health Sciences Center Foundation, P. O. Box 80578, Baton Rouge, LA 70898 for the Student Scholarship Fund.
    Person ID I01049  von Klopotek Glowczewski
    Last Modified 31 Jul 2008 

    Father John Zimny,   d. Aft Jan 1971 
    Mother Lucile R Andryczka,   b. 7 Aug 1899, IL Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 31 Jan 1972, Roseland, Chicago, Cook Co, IL Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 72 years) 
    Family ID F02060  Group Sheet

  • Photos
    Dr. Marilyn Zimny
    Dr. Marilyn Zimny

  • Sources 
    1. [S2913] Oral History Rosalie Anne Klopotek.

    2. [S2908] Obit, Funeral Card, or Marriage Announcement.

    3. [S2909] Social Security Death Index.