MJ Drunga died in 2023. December 22 As announced on VMU’s website, farewell to dr. MJ Drunga will be held on Saturday, April 6, from 9:30 am. VDU in Great Hall (Gimnazijos str. 7, Kaunas).
The urn is taken out at 1:00 p.m., buried in the Petrašiūnai cemetery. At the request of relatives, let’s honor the memory with a flower ring.
MJ Drunga, born in the Diaspora in Tübingen (Germany), moved with his family to the USA, New York, and later to Chicago in 1959, where he attended prof. Vladas Jakubėnas’ private piano studio, studied at a private Catholic high school. in 1968 he graduated from the Pedagogical Institute of Lithuanian Studies in Chicago, a year later he received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago. Drunga also studied philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In Chicago and Boston, Mykolas Drunga worked as a Lithuanian Saturday school teacher, as well as the head of the yearbook of the Lithuanian Student Union. editor, instructor in MIT’s philosophy department. in 1972 together with others, he founded the radio program Garso bangos, organized cultural programs about Lithuanian literature and music. For the program about the music of MK Čiurlionis, the journalist won the Armstrong prize, according to VDU’s press release.
Mykolas J. Drunga also held the position of editor of various publications and publications, including “My Encyclopedia Lituanica” volumes 4-5, “Lituvių studentų sąjungos metraščių”, weekly “Keleivis”, “Vienybė”, “Lituanus” magazine, Lithuanian U.S. of the magazine “The Observer” and others. He was also a contributor to the daily newspaper Draugas, the weekly newspaper Vienybė, the magazines Akiračiai, Metmenys, Naujasis Židinys-Aidai, and the translator of the Baltic Forum magazine.
Since 1990 the journalist was the editor of the Lithuanian broadcasts of “Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty” in Munich, from 1995. – In Prague. When US President George W. Bush stopped funding the radio station because of the war in Iraq, he came to Lithuania.
Mykolas Jurgis Drunga was a long-time associate of Vytautas Magnus University’s Center for Emigration Studies (now VMU Lithuanian Emigration Institute), associate professor of VMU Department of Public Communication. in 2011 he received a doctorate in philosophy from VMU. in 2018 VMU Senate decision Dr. MJ Drunga was awarded the VMU Honorary Doctorate regalia for his services to independent Lithuania, fostering the values of humanist culture and democracy, and promoting the name of Vytautas the Great University.
“[Universitetą] after the restoration, and while the state institutions and political authorities are still stumbling, not standing up properly, the community even in Lithuania itself is gaining more and more importance – and it is not just any community, but a community of free citizens who are responsible for the fate of their homeland, political and cultural. Lithuania will not perish if there is a strong, conscious community of citizens who love it. This is needed in order to improve the work of state institutions. It is also our task, the VMU community, to continue to develop and strengthen this”, – in 2010. Assoc. wrote in VMU newspaper “Universitetas Vytauti Magni”. Dr. MJ Drunga discussing the mission of the university community.
The docent was also a collaborator of Lithuanian Radio, actively participated in public activities, was a member of the “Santara-Šviesa” society (1960-1989), the Council of the Lithuanian Community in the USA (1979-1988), the Board of the World Lithuanian Community (1983-1987). ), member, chairman, board member of the Press and Information Commission, Council of the Lithuanian Foundation and other organizations.
Mykolas J. Drunga has received various awards for his activities and achievements, including the Person of the Year Award for Tolerance (2008), the Gabriele Petkevičaitė-Bitė Memorial Medal “Serve Lithuania” (2016). In 2019, Mykolas J. Drunga was awarded the Petros Babickas first Lithuanian radio announcer prize, which was presented by the Kaunas County Branch of the Lithuanian Journalists’ Union and the Association of Independent Lithuanian Journalists and Creators.
