Wojciech Seweryn ( August 31 , 1939 &ndash; April 10 , 2010 ) was a Polish-born sculptor and longtime resident of the United States . Seweryn was born in Tarnów , graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Tarnów , and studied at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts . He immigrated to Chicago in the mid-1970s . The son of a 16th Infantry Regiment officer killed in the Katyn massacre , he later designed and constructed a memorial commemorating the Katyn massacre in Niles , Illinois ; this was inaugurated in 2009 . He was among those killed along with President of Poland , Lech Kaczyński , First Lady Maria Kaczyńska , and many other prominent Polish leaders in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash near Smolensk
Katyn massacre
Katyn massacre
Wojciech Seweryn