State Sen. Mary Anne Krupsak accepts an award of recognition from Schenectady Mayor Frank Duci, right, in 1974.
Long before Polish-American John Gomulka was elected mayor of Amsterdam in 1967, Michael J. Wytrwal, who never held elected office, was widely known as the city's unofficial Polish mayor.
Wytrwal was born near Krakow, Poland in 1882 and immigrated to Scranton, Pennsylvania when he was 14 with his mother Sophie, who then returned to their native land to retrieve another son. Sophie and her other son died in Poland.
Wytrwal worked in Scranton's coal mines for six months then moved to Reid Hill, one of Amsterdam's two Polish enclaves. There, he started a candy and ice cream business.
Wytrwal married Mamie Brudzdowski in 1904 and sold life insurance. Mamie died two years later in childbirth. In 1907, Wytrwal married Mamie's sister Josephine.
He fathered seven total children, the son from his first marriage plus five daughters and another son from the second marriage. The Wytrwals took up residence in the Brudzdowski's two-family home at 26 Cornell St.
Wytrwal became an entrepreneur. He founded a pharmacy in 1910, later operated by a daughter and son-in-law as Krupzak's Pharmacy on Hibbard Street. Next door was Wytrwal's Furniture, managed by one of Wytrwal's sons. M.J. Wytrwal Coal and Oil, started in 1926, was on James Street.
He was a founder of what was known as the Polish bank and the local Polish National Alliance. He built homes in Amsterdam and was part owner of a Fort Plain knitting mill.
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Local Polish people frequently approached Wytrwal for assistance getting work, even for help with personal problems.
In the Great Depression, Wytrwal let it be known he enjoyed "welfare peanut butter" given out to the needy. He bought many jars of peanut butter from destitute friends who were too proud to ask for a handout.
In the 1933 mayoral election, Wytrwal helped English native Arthur Carter win the race as a Democrat. President Franklin Roosevelt named Wytrwal to head National Recovery Act programs in Montgomery County. Carter served 12 years with Wytrwal's support in the predominately Polish Fourth Ward.
One grandchild said Wytrwal was eloquent in both Polish and English and was a broker between the Polish-speaking community and the English-speaking power structure. The grandchildren remember Christmas Eves when the needy always found a seat at the family table.
Wytrwal doted on his fifteen grandchildren, one of whom drove him places when his failing eyesight made it impossible for him to drive himself.
He was a role model for granddaughter Mary Anne Krupsak, the trailblazing female politician who was born in Schenectady and raised in Amsterdam. Her parents operated Krupsak's Pharmacy on Hibbard Street..
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Mary Anne Krupsak died Dec. 28, 2024 at age 92 at her home on Seneca Lake.
Young Krupsak ate lunch at her grandparents' home every day when she attended St. Stanislaus School nearby. She saw a constant parade of people seeking assistance from her grandfather.
Wytrwal's wife Josephine died in 1956. Michael Wytrwal lived to see Krupsak sworn in as an Assemblywoman in January 1969.
When Wytrwal died Jan. 21, 1970, the Recorder editorialized that he was "likeable, friendly, considerate, a progressive in the finest sense of the word."
After Wytrwal's death, Krupsak won a state Senate seat. She was elected the state's first female lieutenant governor in 1974, running with Democrat Hugh Carey. In 1978, she unsuccessfully challenged Carey for governor in a Democratic primary.
After leaving public life, Krupsak worked as an attorney encouraging startup companies. The work was similar to what her grandfather had done in Amsterdam, where he negotiated deals to help the community with nothing more than a handshake.
"People trusted him because of his honor," Krupsak said.
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