Vesna G Sutija
Visitation:
Thursday
May 25, 2023
4 PM to 7 PM
Location:
John Krtil Funeral Home
1297 1st Ave
New York, NY 10021
Funeral Mass
May 26, 2023
10 AM
Location:
Our Lady Of Good Counsel
230 E90th St
New York, NY 10128
Visitation:
Thursday
May 25, 2023
4 PM to 7 PM
Location:
John Krtil Funeral Home
1297 1st Ave
New York, NY 10021
Funeral Mass
May 26, 2023
10 AM
Location:
Our Lady Of Good Counsel
230 E90th St
New York, NY 10128
Vesna G. Sutija, PhD
March 22, 1939 – May 14, 2023
Vesna Grudzinski Sutija passed away Sunday, May 14th, after a long illness, having been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2015.
Vesna was born in Prelog, Yugoslavia, the daughter of Dr. Alexander Grudzinski, a medical doctor and surgeon, and his wife Mathilde née Vindis. She grew up in Varazdin, where her father was head of the local children’s clinic, and was an accomplished athlete, winning third place in high jump at the 1956 Croatian Junior Track & Field championships. Together with her parents and younger sister Tanya, Vesna emigrated to the US in August 1958. Just over a year later, she matriculated at NYU and finished her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in English in 1962, the same year that she married and gave birth to her son, Davor.
She started graduate work in Psychology soon thereafter, but had a five year hiatus, while she lived in Venezuela and Chile, where her husband George Sutija worked for the Ford Foundation. In Venezuela, she did research with Gunnar Svaetichin, working on intercellular recordings from retinal neurons, a field she would pursue later in her scientific career. On returning to the US, she completed her PhD at NYU in 1975, and continued working in neurophysiology during three separate post-doctoral appointments, at Bascom-Palmer Eye Institute, the University of Miami, and at Hunter College. In 1984, Dr. Sutija was appointed Assistant Research Professor at SUNY College of Optometry and promoted to a tenure-track position in 1988.
Her passion was always vision research and she got the greatest joy out of teaching students and imbuing them with her love of the subject. After she left the field, she became Director of Research at NJ Medical Center, and for nine years at Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn, a teaching hospital where she had joint appointments in the Departments of Pediatrics and Obstetrics/Gynechology.
Vesna had a keen interest in literature and the theatre, regularly attending readings at the 92NY’s Unterberg Poetry Center and performances at Lincoln Center Theater. She was a published poet and the author of a semi-biographical novel, Costly Illusions, which was published after her retirement. In Miami, she sang in the choral ensemble at the University of Miami, appearing with the choir at Carnegie Hall.
She loved being surrounded by her friends, family, and co-workers, and often threw dinner parties, which combined home-cooked Croatian food with stimulating intellectual discussions.
She is survived by her son Davor Sutija, her daughter-in-law Unni Byrkjeland, her sister Tanya Bruck, her niece Natasha Bruck, and three grandchildren, Karina, Astrid, and Henrik Sutija.
A viewing will be held at John Krtil Funeral Home, 1297 1st Avenue, from 4pm-7pm, on Thursday, May 25th 2023, followed by a funeral mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel Roman Catholic Church, 230 E. 90th Street, at 10am on Friday May 26th, 2023.
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