Biography

04/06/1892 - 06/17/1971

KOLANKIEWICZ, Leon J., a Representative from Philadelphia County; born, April 6, 1892 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pa.; attended, Drexel Institute; O.D., Pennsylvania State College of Optometry; served, Machine Gun Company, 315th Infantry, United States Army (1917-1919, World War I; Purple Heart recipient); optometrist; appointed, president, Philadelphia Chapter of American Relief for Poland (1929-1964); elected as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to the 1941 and served 2 more consecutive terms thereafter; appointed, vice-chair, Thomas Jefferson Bicentennial Commission (1941-1944); unsuccessful campaign for reelection to the House (1946); reelected to the House for the 1949 term and served 3 more consecutive terms thereafter; not a candidate for reelection to the House (1956); elected, city council, Philadelphia (1956-1967); died, June 17, 1971 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; interred, Our Lady of Grace Cemetery, Langhorne, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.