Leo Vroman   [1915-2014]

Leo Vroman was trained as a scientist, but became a prolific author in the literary world as a poet largely in his native Dutch language. His scientific training was in biology/hematology and as far as is known he remained a hematologist for the remainder of his active professional life. But the work he loved with a passion was poetry, and he became famous as a poet, and not as a scientist.

Vroman was born in Gouda, the Netherlands on April 10, 1915. He lived a long life and lived to the age of 98. He studied at the University of Utrecht for a career in hematology. The Second World War interfered with his studies and he fled to London, England just prior to the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands on May 10, 1940.

England did not offer him an opportunity to finish his scientific studies and he managed to travel to the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, to complete his studies in hematology at a university in Batavia.

Vroman was unable to flee from Dutch East Indies prior to the Japanese invasion in December 1941 and ended up in a Japanese concentration camp for the duration of the war from December 1941 until August 1945. Virtually all foreigners in the Dutch East Indies were interned in concentration camps during the Japanese occupation.

Following the war, Vroman returned to the Netherlands, but decided pursue his career in the United States. There he was able to follow his scientific career as a hematology researcher. He went to Fort Worth, Texas and lived there for the remainder of his life.

Vroman remained a hematology researcher for the remainder of his professional life, but early in that life, in 1946, he became interested in poetry. Since his native language was Dutch he wrote his first poem in that language, and for the remainder of his life he became a prolific poet, largely in his native Dutch language.

Since his first poem in 1946 he has been awarded nearly every possible Dutch literary poetry award. He did not do this at the expense of his work in hematology. In 1970 he was awarded the Individual Science Award by Wayne State University of Detroit, Michigan. In other words he was good in both of his chosen professional fields of interests.

In addition to the above two fields, Vroman also developed a name in the field of illustration. Little is known of his publications or successes in this field.

Vroman’s most prolific field was poetry and he published as many as 50 publications consisting of individual poems as well as collections of poems in book form. He only had two publications in the English language indicating that his favorite language for poetry was his native Dutch.

Some of the titles of his poetry publications are listed below.

Gedichten [1946]

Poems in English [1953]

Uit slaapwandelen [1957]

Fables van Leo Vroman [1962]

Almanak [1965]

Ballade van mezelf [1969]

God en Godin [1976]

Huis en Tuin. Fabels en strips [1979]

Het verdoembe carillon [1981]

Fractaal [1987]

Toen ik nog leefde [1991]

Psalmen en andere gedichten [1995]

Spiegelbezoek [1999]

Tweede verschiet [2003]

Zodra [2010]

Daar [2011]

Vroman also did 12 pieces of prose. Excerpts are shown below.

Tineke [1948]

Snippers van Leo Vroman [1958]

Agenda uit het jaar 2000 [1968]

Het Carnarium [1973]

Warm, rood, nat en life,

an autobiography [1994]

Vroman also wrote two children’s books and two theater plays. In the scientific area he also had several publications, but definitely not a plethora. His interests were clearly in the literary field and it is there where he developed an enormous reputation for his work in the Dutch language.

In 2003, his former high school changed its name into: Goudse Scholengemeenschap Leo Vroman. It was in recognition of the accomplishments of one of its famous scholars.

Leo Vroman passed away in Fort Worth, Texas on February 22, 2014 at the advanced age of 98, 14 months short of his 100^th birthday.

REFERENCES

Leo Vroman, Wikipedia and other web sources

 

E-BOOKS AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON; GOOGLE: Kindle Store Pegels

 

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PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICANS IN U.S. GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP POSITIONS, 2015

 

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