Edward A. Kolodziej passed away bravely and peacefully at his home on January 15, 2026, after a month in hospice following a cancer diagnosis. He was 91. Ed touched many people across continents and decades of teaching and research during a 60+ year distinguished career in political science. An expert in arms control, international relations, and global studies, he published more than 140 articles and 20 books and monographs, his last in 2022 at the age of 88. He was an active member of the American Political Science Association, International Political Science Association, International Studies Association, International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the New York Council on Foreign Relations.
Edward Albert Kolodziej was born on January 4, 1935, in Chicago, Illinois. He received a full scholarship to Loyola University of Chicago, majoring in political science and minoring in economics. He subsequently received an assistantship from the University of Chicago, earning a master’s degree in political science in 1957 and his doctorate in 1961. In between, he served in the Illinois Air National Guard, 1957-61.
He was employed as an Analyst in National Security by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress from 1960-62 before entering academia. In 1962, he was appointed assistant professor in the Department of Government at the University of Virginia, and achieved the rank of associate professor, with tenure, in 1967, where he also served for two years as the chair of the Department of Government and Foreign Affairs (1967-69). He remained on the Virginia faculty until 1973.
In 1973 Dr. Kolodziej accepted the post of professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and as head of the Department of Political Science, serving as head from 1973-77. In 1983, he assumed the post of research professor in political science. He was twice granted leave and appointed as an associate of the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois. He assumed emeritus status in 2000, but continued his professional activities until his death. He was also active in university governance throughout his career, and in civic and community affairs throughout his life.
Dr. Kolodziej received many grants and awards, including from the Ford, Rockefeller, and MacArthur Foundations, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, NATO, Smithsonian’s Woodrow Wilson Center, Fulbright, US Institute of Peace, IREX, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), the Social Science Research Council, and the US Department of Education (Title V).
He published or edited 20 books and monographs on security, foreign policy, international relations and globalization theory, and global politics and governance, including the sole-authored The Uncommon Defense and Congress:1945-63 (Ohio State, 1966); French International Policy under De Gaulle and Pompidou: The Politics of Grandeur (Cornell, 1974), submitted by the press for a Pulitzer prize in history; Making and Marketing Arms: The French Experience and Its Implications for the International System (Princeton, 1987), cited by Choice as one of the major contributions to political science in 1987; Security and International Relations (Cambridge University Press, 2005); Governing Globalization: Challenges for Democracy and Global Society (Rowman/Littlefield, 2016); and Global Governance: Evaluating the Liberal Democratic, Chinese, and Russian Solutions (Routledge, 2022). He contributed to more than 140 articles and book chapters to peer-reviewed professional journals and edited volumes. He also served on the editorial boards of several professional journals.
Dr. Kolodziej founded and served as director of the Center for Global Studies (CGS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2000-2016. Through his leadership, CGS was successful in five national competitions of major research universities from 2000-2014 for funding and designation as a National Resource Center in Global Studies by the US Department of Education. He attracted more than seven million dollars in private and public funding to support the research, teaching, and outreach of the University of Illinois, notably in security and global studies. Additionally, he was co-founder of the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security at the University of Illinois and served as Director on two occasions (1983-86, 2010-16). He was also instrumental with colleagues in creating the university’s European Union Center.
He lectured (in English and French) at universities, research centers, and governmental agencies in over 40 countries on all continents, notably in French-speaking Africa under the auspices of the US Department of State. He was also a fellow in global governance at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia (1999) and a visiting professor of political economy at Senshu University in Tokyo (2001). He lectured in China at Renmin, Beijing, and Fudan Universities (2006) and Nanyang University in Singapore (2007). He was appointed visiting professor of international security at Aoyama Gakuin University (Tokyo) in September 2007 and visiting professor of European-US relations at Hebrew University (Jerusalem) in October-November 2007.
Teaching was always a high priority for Dr. Kolodziej, to which several generations of his students will attest. He received the University of Illinois Political Science Department’s Pi Sigma Alpha Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award, and the all-campus Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Achievement Award for teaching and scholarship. For several years he taught the introductory graduate course in international relations theory, and he shepherded many dissertations through to completion. He was especially proud of the students he mentored who went on to distinguished careers at other universities.
Ed loved jogging and tennis (played with more zeal than skill). He read avidly and widely, travelled, visited art museums around the world, and actively attended plays and artistic performances. He also enjoyed gardening and landscaping, capped by becoming a master gardener.
Ed’s devotion to his family defined and directed his personal and professional lives. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 63 years, Antje Heberle Tonnies Kolodziej, his parents, Albert and Anna Chudzik Kolodziej, his oldest son, Peter Alexander, loving sister, Evelyn Wegrzyn, and a cherished friend and mentor, Alba Biagini.
Surviving are his three sons, their wives, and nine grandchildren: Andrew and Jeanette Jacobson Kolodziej, Winchester, MA (Zachary, Aiden); Matthew Kolodziej and Dana Richardson-ex/Rachel Beamer, Akron OH (Alexander, Charles, Peter); Daniel and Shanon Trygstad Kolodziej, Los Angeles CA (Alexandra, Katarina), and his son Peter’s children Colin Kolodziej. Cincinnati, OH and Quinn Kolodziej, Champaign, IL.
