Dr. Yury Polotsky, credited with discovering the ETEC subtype of Escherichia coli, a leading cause of GI infections in the HIV epidemic, passed away Nov. 23, 2020, in Denver, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
Rabbi Marc Gitler officiated at the private graveside service Nov. 24 at Emanuel Cemetery. Shalom Funeral Services made the arrangements.
“Yury spent most of his life in Russia fighting state-sponsored anti-Semitism,” the family said. “No matter how much the Soviets tried to eradicate his Judaism, he celebrated every Shabbos here with his five grandchildren. He had the last laugh.
“Everyone in the community who came to attend the Polotsky meals knew where ‘Deda Yura’ was sitting. His empty chair is a reminder of what is lost and how lucky we were to have him in our lives.”
Dr. Polotsky was born Aug. 17, 1938.
Just four during the Siege of Leningrad, he was evacuated to the Ural Mountains, 1941-1944. “I remember our most delicious food: potato peel pancakes fried in sunflower oil,” he wrote in a memoir.
He earned an MD at the St. Petersburg Mechnikov State Medical Academy.
He married Anna Polotsky, also a doctor, in 1961.
Dr. Polotsky suffered the biggest crisis of his professional career in 1979, while employed as a research pathologist at one of the major biomedical research centers in Russia.
Despite being promised he’d replace the head of the department upon his retirement, he got caught in an anti-Semitic campaign stemming from two Jewish doctors’ applications to leave the USSR.
Dr. Polotsky lost his job and was unable to find another one because he was Jewish. He accepted a low-paying job as a research technician.
He eventually rebuilt his career. In 1984 Dr. Polotsky earned a PhD in anatomic pathology and became head of a lab at the Leningrad Pasteur Institute and a principal investigator on numerous projects.
He was allowed to immigrate to the US in 1991 and was appointed a senior research associate at the Walter Reed Army Institute in DC.
Dr. Polotsky became a US citizen in 1998. His wife Anna Polotsky passed away in 2019.
He lived the last few years with his children and grandchildren in Denver.
Dr. Yury Polotsky is survived by his children Dr. Seva (Anna) Polotsky of Baltimore and Dr. Alex (Hanah) Polotsky of Denver; grandchildren Mikhael, Esti, Avi, Yael, Rachel, Eli and Yoshi; and great-granddaughter Cecilia Kate.
Contributions may be made to the Denver Academy of Torah.
Copyright © 2020 by the Intermountain Jewish News
