Long Island University Professor and WWII Hero Dragos D. Kostich
Memorialized with Service at United Nations

Hero and historian honored by family, friends, colleagues at January 10 gathering

To honor the memory of Dragos D. Kostich, the Long Island University historian who was a World War II flier and escapee from a Nazi prison camp, members of his family, friends and colleagues gathered at the United Nations on Thursday, January 10, 2008.

Dr. Kostich died on November 7, 2007, at the age of 86 at his home in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. An esteemed professor emeritus of interdisciplinary studies, political science and international studies at Long Island University’s Brooklyn, C.W. Post and Westchester Campuses, he joined Long Island University in 1965 and retired in 2002. At the Brooklyn Campus, he founded and directed the Institute for the Study of International Organizations and the U.N. Graduate Advanced Certificate Program, which has drawn students from more than 90 countries, including mid- and upper-level U.N. officials and senior diplomats.

“Dr. Kostich put an indelible stamp on Long Island University’s graduate-level United Nations program, which remains unique in the country,” said his successor, Brooklyn Campus Professor Lester Wilson, adding, “Thanks to his leadership, the program, to this day, attracts an extraordinary array of students and faculty members.”

Dr. Wilson said the January 10 gathering, was held in the U.N. Delegates Dining Room for family members, friends and University and U.N. associates to share their memories of a man known for both his courage and his intellect.

Shortly after his death, Dr. Kostich was described as having an illustrious career and important impact on students and the world. “He presented to our students a unique perspective on multinational society and was regarded for his interest and expertise in the United Nations system,” said Dr. Roger Goldstein, chairman of the department of political science and international studies at the University’s C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville, N.Y.

“To work with him on United Nations programs was to be enriched by his experience, his humor and his humanity,” said Leila Doss, visiting professor of political science/international studies at the C.W. Post Campus and former assistant secretary-general of the United Nations. “As the poet Stephen Spender wrote of ‘those who in their lives fought for life...he left the vivid air signed with his honor,’ ” she said. Doss worked with Dr. Kostich for 25 years.

Dr. Kostich also taught at the University’s Westchester Graduate Campus when it was located at Mercy College and at Fordham University.

A native of Yugoslavia, Dr. Kostich served in the Royal Yugoslav Air Force in World War II and after the Nazis overran his country, became an early member of the Resistance. Captured by the Gestapo and sentenced to death, he escaped from a prison camp in occupied Greece, rejoined the Resistance and served with allied missions that parachuted into the highlands of Greece and Albania. After evacuation to Italy, he became a part of the Yugoslav Military Mission; refusing to return to his country after the Communist takeover, he settled in Paris and graduated from the Institut d’etudes politiques. He immigrated to the United States in 1952.

Before joining Long Island University, Dr. Kostich was a lecturer for the Foreign Policy Association, a broadcaster on Voice of America and associate dean of the New School for Social Research in New York.

One of the founding members of the Academic Council on the United Nations System, he was a board member of the New York Chapter of the Society for International Development. An expert in the politics and history of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, he published numerous articles, reviews and books such as: “George Morrison (The Story of an American Indian);” “The Land and People of the Balkans: Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia;” “The Land and People of Poland” and “A 1784 French View of the War of Independence: A Collection of Engravings of the Different Events of the War Which Procured the Independence of the United States of America.” He spoke five languages and could read seven.

Dr. Kostich is survived by his wife, Jeanne, a former conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, his daughter, Alexis Kostich, and a brother, George Kostich.

Posted: January 10, 2008

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