Mitchell Louis Borke

BORKE MITCHELL LOUIS, Ph.D.
Mitchell Louis Borke, Ph.D., 89, of Pittsburgh, died Wednesday, December 24, 2008. Surviving Dr. Borke are his daughters: Louise I. Borke and Susan Borke, grandchildren: Laura I. Sciuto, Louis H. Sciuto, Liza G. Brecher. He is also survived by Joanna Stebbins and Agnes Kofman. He belonged to The Fulbright Association, Sigma Chi,Phi Kappa Phi, The Polish Cultural Council and the Duquesne University School of Pharmacy Faculty Association.Mitchell Borke was born as Mieczyslaw Borkowski in 1919 in Warszawa (Warsaw), POLAND. He graduated from General Joseph Sowinski 1-st Municipal Gymnasium (high school) with Honors in 1936, and went on to study medicine at the Medical Faculty, Joseph Pilsudski University in Warsaw, until the outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939.He spent the war years in the Soviet Union in a forced labor camp and on a collective farm, surviving to immigrate to the United States after the war. In the US, Mitchell Borke studied pharmacy at the College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois in Chicago, Illinois, graduating in 1951 B.S. in Pharmacy, with Honors and continuing with his studies to achieve a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry.From 1957 until 1989, he was a member of the faculty of the School of Pharmacy, Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh, advancing in rank from an assistant professor to full professor and retiring as a Professor Emeritus. While at Duquesne University, he established the programs in Nuclear Science, Radiopharmacy and in Radiological Health as well as the Laboratory in Nuclear Science. Mitchell Borke held membership in numerous professional and honor societies and had 25 refereed journal publications and 6 book reviews (2 in Russian). For the academic year, 1969-1970, he held a Fulbright fellowship to teach Pharmaceutical Chemistry in Taiwan.In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.
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