Tomasz (Tomek) Pietrzykowski died, in France, Friday morning, May 31st. He had been living, with his wife, Chandali, first in Poland and more recently in France, since leaving Halifax.
Tomek was a Polish physicist, computer scientist, and dharma practitioner who moved from Poland to Canada and eventually to Nova Scotia, joining the early sangha there. He became affectionately known as the “Vajra Polack”, a name given by Trungpa Rinpoche with great affection. Barbara Blouin, who carefully listened to all the Vajradhatu Seminary recordings, said she found the most delightful interactions to be those between Tomek and Trungpa Rinpoche during the 1978 seminary.
Tomek was an early arrival to Nova Scotia, becoming part of the “Standing Committee” there in 1980. How he got to Nova Scotia was actually through his Computer Science work, as he picked up on the opportunity to become head of the Computer Science Department at Acadia University, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.
