Walter Golaski

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Walter Golaski (1913–1996) was an American Mechanical-Bio-Medical Engineer.

Golaski developed Dense Knit Dacron Vascular Prostheses. These were the first practical artificial vascular replacements. He died at the age of 83.

Walter's business flourished after his invention, but he never forgot his ancestral heritage (he was born and raised in Connecticut but his parents immigrated to the US from Poland). He served as Chairman of the Kosciuszko Foundation. In "which [he] encouraged the exchange of students and scholars between the United States and Poland." [1] He helped show Poland in a positive light to America in that "Americans of all ethnic backgrounds were encouraged to participate in the Foundation's programs and experience Polish culture directly." [2]

Golaski had a wife named Helene Dolores Golaski who died in 1968. When she died he donated a painting called Young Lady at the Fireplace (signed 1882, Wladyslaw Czachorski) to the Kosciusko Foundation.