Robert Polackwich – 50th Reunion Essay

Robert Polackwich

Date of Death: 23-Apr-1988

College: Pierson

(This memorial is reprinted from findagrave.com.)

Husband of Stephanie Polackwich, brother of Alan Polackwich. He was a doctor specializing in cancer and a graduate of Yale.

Killed (along with Jonathan Richards, his stepson) in a sailboat accident off the coast of Boca Raton, Florida when his boat drifted into some powerlines.

From the St. Petersburg Times, 2/21/1993: “While sailing together on a rented catamaran near islands on the Intracoastal Waterway, Polackwich and Richards, 19, ran into problems. They began drifting backwards out of control. That’s when the catamaran’s 26-foot mast touched 25-foot Florida Power & Light electric transmission lines, killing both men.”

In 1987, he formed a venture to go in search of one of the most legendary treasures in treasure hunting lore: the Czar’s Treasure rumored to be aboard RMS Republic off the coast of Massachusetts. He was, at the time of his death, the chief financial backer for the effort. No treasure was recovered at the time, but further efforts are planned for the future.

Polackwich was a resident of the Avila district of Northwest Tampa where he kept two Arabian horses.

Abstract from the journal Cancer (American Cancer Society) August 15, 1986:

“Since June 1979, the authors (Osiasin and Polackwich) have had the opportunity to treat a renal homograph recipient who developed primary embryonal cell testicular carcinoma with retroperitoneal and pulmonary metastases. This patient was treated with an induction chemotherapy protocol of vinblastine sulfate, bleomycin, and cisplatin and has remained free of disease through June 1985, without loss of his renal homograph. Cisplatin-based cytoxic drug therapy can be delivered safely to a renal transplant recipient without causing kidney damage, and, in this case, achieved a cure of metastatic testicular cancer.”