George R. Szymanski, Jr. Esquire

George R. Szymanski, Jr. Esquire was the 2013 NAS/NMDA Man of the Year. George Szymanski was a lawyer, age 64, who practiced mostly as a civil litigator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden County, New Jersey. He was married to Dolores (Biello) Szymanski, Ed.D., for 39 years. They resided in Cinnaminson and Beach Haven. They have one son, Adam.

George was born in 1952 in Philadelphia. The eldest of three children, he grew up in the Mayfair section of Northeast Philadelphia, a multi-ethnic, working-class neighborhood of rowhouses that had small lawns in the front and back.  George's father was a high school science teacher in Camden, New Jersey and during the summertime, he was a United States Merchant Marine Radio Officer, sailing mostly for Texaco Oil Company. George's mother was a homemaker. 

George's paternal grandparents were immigrants from Rypin, Poland who came to the U.S.A. by themselves in their later teenage years. They did not know each other in Rypin, but they met and married in Jersey City, New Jersey. George's maternal grandparents were immigrants from the Silesia region of Poland. Both of George's grandfathers, although recent immigrants from Poland to the U.S., fought in the United States Army during World War I, soon after they arrived here. George's mother grew up in Philadelphia and met George's father when he came to the Philadelphia area to attend undergraduate college at Villanova, after serving in World War II.

George attended public schools in Philadelphia from Kindergarten to twelfth grade. He spent a large amount of time during his earlier years playing sports on the playgrounds of Northeast Philadelphia, and also for the Mayfair Athletic Club, in organized baseball, basketball and football youth leagues, which were highly competitive.  George also attended the Adam Mickiewicz Polish Language School at the Associated Polish Home in Philadelphia on Saturday mornings for a number of years, where he studied the Polish language and learned to sing traditional Polish songs. Both of George's parents spoke Polish before they spoke English, and they retained their fluency in the Polish language.  They often spoke Polish to each other at home, but not frequently enough to George to learn the language. George's father and mother were both active in the Philadelphia Polonia, and conversations about Poland, Polish culture, and American Polonia were discussed almost every day in George's family.

George graduated in 1969 from Abraham Lincoln High School (where Sylvester Stallone went until he was asked to leave), a large comprehensive public high school of about 4300 students. He started as a wingback for his high school's varsity football team that played for the Philadelphia Public League Championship in 1968 (but lost), and he was captain of the school's varsity track and field team (when he was 60 pounds lighter).

After graduating from high school in 1969, George received an academic scholarship to Fordham University in New York City, where he received a B.A. in History in 1973. During the summer of 1972, at age 20, George was a recipient of a grant from the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York City, and spent six weeks studying in Krakow, Poland at the Jagiellonian University. This experience of living, studying and traveling in Poland, where he was also able to meet and stay with a number of his father's relatives, developed and solidified his interest in Polish history and culture.

George did not do well in the standardized law school aptitude test during his senior year at Fordham, and consequently, despite having high grades at Fordham, he was not accepted into any of the law schools to which he applied. He came back to Philadelphia and entered a master's degree program in secondary school social studies education at Temple University, which enabled his to simultaneously begin teaching as a social studies teacher in the Camden City School system.
It was at a tough inner city middle school that he met another first-year social studies teacher in his department, Dolores BIello, a recent graduate of Temple University, who grew up in South Philadelphia, in a rowhouse without a lawn. They were married three years later.
He was admitted into Temple University's School of Law, and graduated three years later in 1984.  He finished in the top half of his class, and at graduation, he received the Temple Law Alumni Award for Excellence in Moot Court.  He was the captain of Temple Law's National Moot Court Team, which won the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship in the 34th Annual Moot Court Competition in 1983.
George had been practicing law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for 30 years.  He was predominantly a plaintiff's personal injury lawyer, and he also had a large Social Security disability practice.  Additionally, he handled complex civil litigation in the areas of employment discrimination and civil rights.  He also did a small amount of criminal defense work.  He has tried a large number of jury trials to verdict. He also did a considerable amount of appellate work.  He has done a substantial amount of pro bono legal work for the Polish community in Philadelphia.
George's wife, Dolores Szymanski, holds a bachelor's degree from Temple University in Philadelphia in secondary school social studies education, a master's degree from Temple in psychology of reading, and a doctorate degree from Wilmington University in Delaware in educational leadership.  She is a retired New Jersey public school superintendent, who still works as interim superintendent in school districts in southern New Jersey.  Their son, Adam, is 31 years old and a 2007 graduate of West Virginia University's School of Business and Economics. He works in the field of mutual funds finance for Vanguard in Malvern, Pennsylvania.  He lives in the South Philadelphia rowhouse where Dolores grew up and where Dolores' father grew up and then lived with Dolores and her mother.   

George and Dolores spent a great deal of time enjoying the arts in Philadelphia.  They had season subscriptions to several theater companies. They also attended Philadelphia Orchestra concerts, operas, and ballet in Philadelphia.

George and Dolores got great pleasure from spending most weekends from mid-June to mid-October at their home in Beach Haven, New Jersey at the Jersey shore.  George was in the surf of the Atlantic Ocean every day during those months.

Dolores had been kind enough to support George in his happy addiction to Polish culture and history, and to actively participate in Polonia groups.  George spent five years as the President of the Jagiellonian Law Society of Philadelphia.  He was a former president of the National Advocates Society.  He and Dolores co-produced the 2008 convention in Williamsburg, Virginia.  He was recently appointed as general counsel to the Polish Association of Philadelphia. He and Dolores were active members of the Kosciusko Foundation in New York City and its Philadelphia Chapter, the Polish-American Congress, Eastern Pennsylvania District, and the Polish Heritage Society of Philadelphia.

In addition to his passion for Poland and Polonia, George is a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, the Phillies, 76ers, and the Flyers.  He and Dolores were also active in the Temple University and Fordham University alumni organizations. 

George shared a lot of time with Adam in golfing, shooting sporting clays with a 12 gauge shotgun, skiing, and hunting for pheasants and ducks at privately owned preserves in southern New Jersey.  George was not proficient at any of these outdoor activities, but he enjoyed the fresh air and being with his son.

George was grateful to the National Advocates Society and to the National Medical and Dental Association for giving him, Dolores and Adam many great experiences and wonderful friends.