News and views for the UB community
Published December 6, 2012 This content is archived.
Edward L. Nowak, longtime university photographer, died on Nov. 27 in his North Buffalo home. He was 89.
Born in Buffalo—the fifth of 10 children of Polish immigrants—Nowak attended Hutchinson-Central High School, where he studied photography and auto mechanics. He left school to help support his family and later earned his high school diploma and took college classes.
Nowak became an X-ray technician at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in the 1950s and advanced through the ranks to become a research photographer and head radiology technician.
He joined the staff at UB in the mid-1960s and did the aerial photography to help map the North Campus.
He was chief photographer at UB throughout the administration of President Robert Ketter in the 1970s and took official photographs at all major university events.
He retired from UB in 1988.
An award-winning photographer, Nowak was a member of the Buffalo Science Museum Camera Club and a contributing member of the Polish Genealogical Society.