Trustee Mark Dobrzycki
Mark Dobrzycki and his wife Diana and daughter Adriana are proud to make Harwood Heights their home.
Mark is the son of Danuta Dobrzycki and the late Stanley, a World War II veteran. He was born in Chicago and has been a resident of Harwood Heights since 1976. An honors graduate of Weber High School, he continued his education at Northwestern University in Evanston receiving degrees in economics and sociology and received a masters degree in business administration from Loyola University Chicago. Mark received a scholarship from the Kosciuszko Foundation of New York to attend Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, and as well as studied at the John Paul II Summer University Program in Rome, Italy. He is also an alumnus of the Pulaski and St. Maximillan Kolbe Polish Language schools.
Mark interned and then later worked as a photography editor for the Associated Press Midwest Bureau in Chicago. He continued with photojournalism as a photographer with his works appearing in newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times, San Francisco Examiner, Chicago Sun-Times and Tribune, Vanity Fair, Time, Stockholm's Expressen newspaper, as well as on the cover of many local publications. Mark also produced and hosted a TV program for 6 years called the American Journal on ETC-TV Chicago, a half-hour live program with news, information and interviews.
Mark is the executive director of the PNA Information Center and chief administrator of Amicus Poloniae Volunteer Free Legal Clinic. The center and clinic serve clients at no charge and provide free legal services. Amicus Poloniae is the only free legal clinic on Chicago’s northwest side. More than 50 volunteer attorneys, law school students, and legal consultants help more than 100 people a month.
Always civically active, Mark has been the announcer for 20 straight years at the May 3rd Polish Constitution Day Parade in downtown Chicago as well as being a vice-chairman of the parade committee. He has served on the board of directors for the Copernicus Foundation, Chicago Access Network and Northwestern University Alumni Association. He also has served as an advisor and community consultant for one of the newest permanent exhibits at the Field Museum of Natural History titled "Living Together," an exhibit about all the people and cultures of the world.
In 1988, Mark received a diplomatic post working for the U.S. State Department's United States Information Agency and worked in Warsaw taking part in the first cultural exchange between Poland and the U.S. since the imposition of Martial Law, and for the preparation of President Ronald Reagan's trip to Poland later that year.
Mark, Diana – a successful real estate broker, and Adriana can be seen all throughout the village helping neighbors and friends. His mother Danuta, his brother Chris and late father Stanley have always been part of the neighborhood in Harwood Heights too.
