Vladimir Zbinovsky, 100
CHATHAM, Mass. – Vladimir Zbinovsky died on Wednesday, November 13, 2013, at Liberty Commons in Chatham, Massachusetts.

Vladimir was the beloved husband of the late Anna Zbinovsky. He is survived by his daughter Monika Nochisaki of California, son Alexander Zbinovsky of New York, and daughter Alla Zbinovsky of Massachusetts; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Vladimir was born more than a century ago in Warsaw, Poland, then part of Czarist Russia. His parents were ethnic Slovaks on the run from political strife in their own country. When he was two, his family moved from Warsaw further east to the Russian capital, Moscow. His father owned a haberdashery business and his mother was an herbalist and healer.

After a tumultuous decade in Moscow, which saw the ravages of the First World War and the Russian Revolution, Vladimir’s family was forced to return to their homeland, becoming suspect as foreigners in the increasingly paranoid Soviet regime. The Zbinovsky family returned to their bucolic family home in northern Slovakia, surrounded by farmland. Under the gaze of the Tatry Mountains, Vladimir nurtured his natural talent for drawing and painting, as well his love for skiing and kayaking.

While in high school and university, Vladimir developed a passion for chemistry. During WWII, he studied at the Universities of Prague and Bratislava, receiving his first doctorate in pharmacology. In 1947, he traveled to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, as an exchange student to pursue a second doctorate in biochemistry. While in Madison, he played an integral part in the development of the blood thinner Coumadin.

During the 1950s, Vladimir went to work for Johnson and Johnson and became a proud citizen of this country. He later taught at Clark University in Massachusetts and eventually settled in Nanuet, New York, where he worked for American Cyanamid, also known as Lederle Labs. His years at American Cyanamid yielded several patents and the discovery of new antibiotics, among them minocycline.

In 1956, he met his wife to be, Anna, at a Russian ball in New York City. Anna was a recent immigrant from Ukraine by way of Germany. Vladimir retired in the early 1980s and spent his time growing raspberries, reading, and traveling, all the while keeping to a regimen of brisk daily walks, coffee and sweets. He spent his last year and a half on Cape Cod, living with his daughter Alla, and his final days in Liberty Commons. Vladimir’s inner strength, intellectual curiosity and kind heart will be sorely missed. Eternal memory.

His funeral service was held on Monday, November 18th, in Nanuet, New York, at Novo Diveyevo Church. Memorial donations may be made to the Russian Orthodox Convent, 100 Smith Road, Nanuet, New York. To share a memory or write a condolence to the family, please visit www.hannemannfuneralhome.com.