varieties of fruit trees commonly considered the most valuable. In the same period, he acted to defend fruit growers and vegetable gardeners against excessive taxation and collectivization and to keep their farms in private hands. The result of these activities was the continuous presence of fruit and vegetables on the Polish market, while there was often a shortage of other agricultural products in those years. Before World War II apple production was 400-600 thousand metric tons per year, and in 1983, when he retired, it reached over 1.7 million metric tons. In addition to his scientific activity, Pieniążek was involved in the widely understood popularization of gardening knowledge in Poland by publishing articles in the press on fruit trees and in the 1970s, taking part in weekly TV programs promoting the planting and cultivation of fruit trees and berry plants in home gardens. He also introduced and popularized the growing of so-called Skierniewice lemons (pl. cytryna skierniewicka) in Poland, which was meaningful at the time because of the relative scarcity of imported fruits. Personal life He was married to Janina Praska, born on August 28, 1914 in Warsaw, professor of plant physiology (marriage: September 1, 1939 in Ithaca). He had two children (a daughter, Emilia, born in 1942, and a son, Norman, born in 1946). He died on July 1, 2008 in Konstancin-Jeziorna. He was buried at the Bródno Cemetery in Warsaw (avenue 49A, row 1, grave 25). The memory of Professor Pieniążek was commemorated with three monuments: a monument-bench in front of the town hall building in Skierniewice, a bust in front of the building of the Institute of Horticulture in Skierniewice, and a stone obelisk in the market square in Błędów in the Grójec county, funded by local fruit growers. References External links Facts regarding a profile of Professor Szczepan Pieniążek (in English) Personal memories of people who remember Professor Szczepan Pieniążek (in Polish) An article about the people of Skierniewice remembering Professor Szczepan Pieniążek (in Polish) 1913 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Polish botanists Pomologists University of Warsaw alumni People from Garwolin County Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1944–1989) Burials at Bródno Cemetery 20th-century agronomists