Dr. Stanislaw Milewski's life is a reflection of Poland's modern history. He was born in Bagrowo, Poland on June 16, 1930. After World War II began, he was deported on January 10, 1940, to Russia, northeast of the city of Archangel. He left Russia with the Army of General Wladyslaw Anders in 1942, and served with the Polish Cadet Corps between 1943 and 1947 in Barbara, which was near Gaza in Palestine. As a result of the war, the Milewski family became part of a new Polish diaspora.
The young Milewski attended Medical School at Trinity College at the University of Dublin from 1950 to 1956. He received his training in ophthalmology at the Gill Memorial Hospital in Virginia, and then completed his fellowship in surgery and diseases of the retina and vitreous at the Massachusetts Eye-Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Dr. Milewski was a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Connecticut. He practiced in the Hartford area, specializing in surgery and disorders of the retina and vitreous. He lectured in the United States and trained Polish physicians in his specialization.
Dr. Milewski was a prominent member of the Polish community. He served as a president of the Connecticut District of the Polish American Congress and was a member of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, the Kosciuszko Foundation, and the Jozef Pilsudski Institute of America. He was a long-time friend and supporter of the Polish Studies Program at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU).
In 1990, Dr. Milewski and his wife Anita endowed the Milewski Polish Studies Lecture at CCSU in honor of their parents, Alfred and Sabina Milewski and Maria and Jerzy Dobiecki. The lecture is devoted to key issues in the modern history of Poland. Dr. Stanislaw Milewski passed away on June 7, 2011 and Anita Milewski on May 9, 2018.
The first Milewski Lecture was delivered on September 30, 1990, by His Excellency Kazimierz Dziewanowski, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland.