Professor Josef Blass has become the newest GRAND LIFE MASTER in the ACBL.
Josef Blass (AM ‘69, PhD ’71) and Ewa Schaff-Blass (MD ’73) came to the University of Michigan from their native Poland in 1968 to study mathematics and medicine, respectively. Josef and his brother Piotr, who also received a Ph.D. in mathematics from U-M, were brought to the department by Maxwell Reade. From 1970-99, Josef Blass was professor of mathematics at Bowling Green State University and founded Pension Research Institute, Inc., a company created to bring academic research to the investment field. Over the years, he developed a 401(k) plan for Fidelity Group as well as investment products for individual and institutional clients and established a privately-owned transportation company in Poland and a financial consulting firm in Eastern Europe. Since high school, Josef was involved in the dissident movement in Poland, generously helping to fund the Solidarity movement during the difficult period of martial law. From the end of communism in 1989, Josef Blass has worked with each successive Polish government, offering advice and support on issues dealing with pension reforms and privatization. He was instrumental in helping CREES organize a 1999 conference, “Communism’s Negotiated Collapse: The Polish Round Table, Ten Years Later.” For these contributions he received the Knight’s Cross of Merit from the Polish government in 1999.
Josef Blass resides in Chapel Hill North Carolina, remains active in several financial companies, and actively supports the UNC Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies.
Playing this week with his teammates Jacek "Pepsi" Pszczola, Michal Nowosadzki, Sjoert Brink, Bas Drijver, and Jacek Kalita, Josef Blass amassed 46.60 Masterpoints - enough to become the ACBL's Newest GRAND LIFE MASTER on Friday June 15, 2018. Everyone in District 11 and Unit 124 contratulates Professor Blass on his accomplishment here at the 2018 Cincinnati Flying Pig Regional Tournament.
IN addition, Professor Blass is a 2018 ACBL Goodwill Committee Honoree. Professor Josef Blass is a mathematician and businessman who, since his retirement, has focused both time and resources to promoting bridge at the college level. For the past 10 years he has devoted himself to helping the Bridge Club at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His involvement has resulted both in the expansion of the club, and also in its successful participation in the ACBL College Championship competition.
Dr. Blass took what he learned from his leadership role in the Bridge Club to suggest that the ACBL make changes in its format and eligibility requirements, and all of his suggestions have been adopted. In recognition of Josef’s considerable contribution to college bridge, he recently was elected president of the ACBL Educational Foundation.
Josef also is well known at the bridge table, particularly at NABCs and Mid-Atlantic regionals. He has NABC wins to his credit and he frequently sponsors a team captained by “Pepsi,” fellow Pole Jacek Pszczola.
We will save a table for your team next year!