Anna Viau

Born May 16, 1933 in Warsaw, Poland,

Passed away October 28, 2021 in California, USA

Survived by her brothers: Andrzej, Jan, and Piotr Temler

Preceded in death by her husband Jean-Paul Viau and her brother Roman Temler.

Biography:

Born into a family of wealthy industrialists, Anna’s idyllic childhood was abruptly interrupted by the eruption of WWII in 1939. At the age of 7, she witnessed the bombing of besieged Warsaw and the casualties. Expelled from their home and subsequent rented dwellings, the family eventually found refuge in a purchased residence on the outskirts of Warsaw, in Konstancin.

After the Germans, the Soviet Army occupied Poland and a period of Stalinist oppression of former resistance fighters and of anyone opposed to their invasion commenced. Thousands were imprisoned, investigated, tortured, and executed. As former industrialists, Anna’s family was blacklisted as ‘bloodsucking enemies of the working class and therefore of the nation’. Despite excelling academically as a student at the prestigious Warsaw School of Agronomics (SGGW), Anna was declared ‘persona non grata’ by a Communist student board and banished from the university to an isolated collective farm (kolkhoz). Despite the primitive conditions and long and early hours of work, Anna loved to care for the animals and succeeded in gaining the respect and friendship of her kolkhoz co-workers. After a year, she was allowed to return to Warsaw to finish her studies.

In 1964, she managed to emigrate and spent a year in France before arriving in the U.S., where she managed to obtain a scholarship at Rutgers University in New Jersey, wherein she pursued and graduated with a Ph.D degree, married a fellow student, Jean-Paul Viau, and settled into a happy life of scientific work and vacation travels. Unfortunately, in 1993, Anna’s husband passed away.

Anna continued doing scientific research at Rutgers University until she was asked to participate in the startup and growth of Enzon, a pharmaceutical firm that developed life-saving medications for individuals suffering from cancer and other autoimmune diseases. After she retired, she continued to live in New Jersey and travelled extensively with a closely knit group of fellow travelers and friends to China, South America, Africa, Australia and Europe.

In 2015, at the age of 83, Anna moved from New Jersey to California to be closer to her brother Jan and his family. Unfortunately, in 2018, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and eventually succumbed to it, passing away in her sleep on October 28, 2021.

A Memorial Mass will be held on Monday, December 20, 2021at 10:00am at “Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church” in Santa Barbara, CA. It will be followed in the new year with a subsequent one in Boundbrook, NJ. Specific dates and times will be communicated at a later date through this website. Anna will live forever in the hearts of her family and her friends, as she is remembered and those moments shared with her are cherished by all of us who were fortunate enough to know her.