Tom Podl

Colors of Identity: Discovering My Roots Through Polish Art

April 6th, 2002

Tom Podl was born in 1938 in Chicago to Polish parents who came
to the United States at the beginning of the century and

whose families permanently settled in the Chicago area. Mr. Podl
graduated with a BSEE degree from the Illinois Institute of

Technology in 1963. He then moved to Minneapolis beginning a
technical/sales career that led to establishment of Intralife,

Inc. (a medical implant distributor) in Bellevue, WA in 1976.

Mr. Podl is a collector of Polish art whose main interest lies in
the 19th and 20th century Polish paintings and drawings.

Over the past twenty years his collection has grown into the largest
and most important collection of Polish paintings owned by

an American. His collection is of such an importance and interest
that, in collaboration with the National Museum in Kraków it

was presented in the Polish cities of Kraków, Wroclaw, Warsaw,
Sopot, Legnica, Poznan, Szczecin, Lodz as well as Rappersville,

Switzerland. An exhibition tour of North America is currently being
organized.

Mr. Podl is a director of the Society for Arts and former
president of the Polish Museum of America in Chicago.