John Thomas Cullinan
July 31, 1939 – April 8, 2025
It is with deep sadness that we are saying goodbye to John Thomas Cullinan, beloved husband of Ewa Radwanska, who passed away on April 8th, 2025 at the age of 85, in Scottsdale, Arizona.
John was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and spent his childhood in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he finished Immaculate Conception Catholic School and Portsmouth High School. He went on to Yale University (BA) and Columbia University (PhD in English Literature), and became a professor of literature at the University of California – Riverside; he later worked for the University of Chicago, in the philanthropic sector, and for the US State Department International Visitor Leadership Program.
He was a longtime resident of Chicago, Illinois, where he met his wife of 35 years, Ewa, with whom he shared many treasured moments and travels in the US and around the world, especially in her native Poland. John was an avid reader, film buff, theater lover and passionate fan of classical music; he was a member and supporter of the Newberry Library, WFMT-Chicago classical music station, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Woodstock Mozart Festival, and Music of the Baroque.
He donated half of his extensive book collection to the Macao Polytechnic University in China, where his stepdaughter, Joanna Radwanska-Williams, was a professor of English. Through his wife’s Dr. Ewa Radwanska’s activism in the Polish-American Medical Society and the Kosciuszko Foundation, John was greatly appreciated by the Polish-American community in Chicago for his wit, sophistication, helpfulness and boundless knowledge. He is survived by his wife and stepdaughter, as well as his nieces, daughters of his late sister Alice Eigler, and their families. May his soul rest in peace.