Student loses long battle to cancer
Syracuse University student Mark Ozminkowski battled a type of bone cancer since June 1997 when he was a freshman in high school. Tragically, he lost this battle on Dec. 30, 2002.
Deborah Ozminkowski, Mark’s mother, said he was in treatment on and off, which included chemotherapy and surgery but still managed to graduate from high school on time, get jobs and attend SU. Kathryn Drake, associate director of student development for the l.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science, said a memorial will be held for Ozminkowski at 4:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 24 in Hendricks Chapel.
“He fought the whole time,” she said.
Andrew Valentino, one of Mark Ozminkowski’s good friends and a junior civil engineering major, said he would remember Mark as a tough kid.
“He had cancer for the longest time and he never quit,” Valentino said. “He never let it get him down even though he was sick.”
Ozminkowski began at SU with the summer program in 2000 majoring in computer science, Deborah said. He took a medical leave of absence from SU in December 2001 but had every intention of coming back, Deborah said.
Mark had some really good friends at SU and really enjoyed his time here, she said.
“He had a poetry and astronomy class that thrilled him,” Ozminkowski said. “He enjoyed the whole spectrum.”
Valentino said Mark’s cancer made it difficult for him to do a lot of activities but he still skateboarded, loved music, playing Neil Young on his guitar, and reading.
Books and writing meant so much to Mark he was considering transferring into the creative writing program at SU when he returned to campus, he said.
Marley O’Neil, a junior biology and sociology major and one of Ozminkowski’s close friends, said Mark loved his guitars and introduced her to a lot of new music that was out of the mainstream.
She said Mark would sometimes walk into a music store, randomly pick up a CD and go home to listen to it trying to find somebody new.
O’Neil said Mark never made it well know he was sick and always kept his spirits high even when faced with treatment.
“Every time he had to go to the hospital he didn’t look down on it,” she said. “He knew it was something he just had to do.”
Valentino said he and Mark often went to see live music and reminisced about an instance where Mark’s spontaneous nature and their love of music came into conflict during a class here at SU. Once, Mark and Valentino went to New York City for a concert even though they both had classes in the morning, he said.
Valentino said when he thinks of Mark Ozminkowski he will remember his spontaneity and originality.
“There is nobody like him,” he said.
Published on January 15, 2003 at 12:00 pm