Remembering Igor Drecki

I was devastated when I learned from my daughter, who works at the Alexander Turnbull Library, of the deaths of Igor and Iwona. Even now, I find it hard to think and write about it. It is such a loss.

My late husband, Cliff, and I became friends with Igor, from at least 1999, through the world of cartography. I was a Vice President of the International Cartographic Association (ICA) from 1999 to 2001. We first met Igor at ICA meetings and stayed in touch. Igor played an important role in the ICA and will be very much missed by this organisation. His contributions in New Zealand to the NZ Cartographic Society and other organizations in New Zealand were considerable, I know. It was really lovely to catch up with Igor when attending the 50th Anniversary Annual Meeting while on my last visit to New Zealand to see my daughter in 2020-2021.

Cliff and I enjoyed meeting Igor and Iwona’s daughters on our first trip to New Zealand in 2010. I still have pleasant memories of the lovely dinner we had at their house and what warm and friendly hosts they both were. Igor was a charming man we became friends, despite our age difference. He valued the small contributions that I made to his efforts to archive ICA materials and photos. Igor hosted Cliff and I on a tour of the University of Auckland campus that included the Map Library. The tour was of particular interest as my career had mostly been as a Map Librarian, and Igor made sure that I met their Map Librarian.

My thoughts go out to Igor’s daughters and the rest of their family and all his friends and colleagues, I wish that I were able to attend the gathering in his memory in Wellington. If he were alive, my husband would join with me in sending our sincere condolences.

Igor was the driving force behind New Zealand cartography for more than 20 years. His enthusiasm, energy and dedication were unmatchable. Fearsome. Inspiring. His efforts to resuscitate the Cartographic Society, after a period of dormancy following two restructures of the national mapping organisations, were quietly heroic and encouragingly effective. Deserving and receiving success. The continued health of our society is his legacy.

The creation of a biennial national mapping conference in the form of GeoCart provided an inclusive forum for everyone doing work (or play) in any field vaguely related to geospatial data and presentation. Widening the definition of ‘cartography’ to be so inclusive not only made these events more economically viable but also made them more attractive and interesting for all attendees. The regular sprinkling of overseas speakers from ICA added a rich heart and authenticity to the conferences, enabling attendees to meet international figures on their own terms.

I attended several international conferences with Igor, and remember (with a grin) finding ourselves locked in (!) a local park in Moscow and having to slither out under part of the gate where there was barely room. Any CCTV footage would have amused the guards.

A few years ago, I learned that cartographers were pedantic. Even after 60 years drawing maps I wasn’t aware of that!! Igor was the pedant’s pedant. But with vision and achievement in abundance. His research was always thorough, precise, and definitive, although this (and conflicting priorities) often led to missed deadlines. The publications he was involved with were worth waiting for. Some may need reprinting – but never revision.

Iwona’s tolerance of Igor’s zealous focus on cartography speaks volumes for their devotion to each other. We remember her love too. Behind every great man…

Igor’s death leaves in us a great void. An enormous gulf that will take many members time to fill. I am confident that our many talented members will do what needs to be done – and leave their own marks on our Society. As at most funerals, the memorials by ICA in Cape Town and NZCS in Wellington revealed the wide range of people that Igor touched, mentored, and inspired. We will all remember his care for others in our contacts in the ever-widening cartographic community.

To Igor and Iwona's family, friends and colleagues - I'm very late coming to this shocking news and my heart goes out to Igor and Iwona's family. I met Igor fairly soon upon arrival back in New Zealand after a decade+ away - anything to do with mapping and cartography here soon lead to him. He was a colleague at the University of Auckland, too, where his generous and humble demeanour only enhanced his expertise and deep knowledge of many aspects of a variety of cartographic enterprises. In my case, I enjoyed his artistic eye and understanding of the aesthetic aspects of mapping - a deeply understood position combined with some quite formidable skills in this area (his posters or presentations were always wonderfully designed). Igor, not only will I miss you professionally, I will miss you personally for your ability to cross worlds with such ease and grace. Vale.

I’m a colleague of Igor’s from the Alexander Turnbull Library. Igor’s passion for maps and cartography was inspiring and I was lucky to hear some of his presentations – they ignited my own interest in maps again for which I’m grateful. I didn’t know Igor well but his professionalism and passion made an impression on me.

I’ll remember him with respect and gratitude and send healing thoughts and aroha to all his family and cartographic colleagues.

My favourite memory of Igor is the first time I was with him and Shannon when they were packing the van for a work trip from Auckland to Wellington. They would always have a lot of equipment including a giant flatbed scanner. The van needed to be packed in such a way that everything would not only fit but would weather the trip south without damage. Igor and Shannon had equally strong opinions on where everything should be stowed.

They would bring down boxes a bit at a time while I babysat the van. Shannon brought down one box and placed it just so, then headed back upstairs. Igor then came down with another box. He moved Shannon's box, placed his box just so, then went back upstairs. Shannon came down, moved Igor's last box, placed her own, then went back upstairs. Neither of them realized what they were doing. This process went on until everything was loaded and they were standing at the back of the van discussing the justification for the placement of each item. Apparently, this is how to win playing Tetris. 

I always enjoyed seeing the two of them at work together because they were so much alike. Sometimes it created peace and harmony and sometimes fireworks, but it was never boring. Igor was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. When we came to NZ we didn’t know anyone. He welcomed us with open arms and was always there for Shannon both as a manager and a friend. His loss leaves a big hole in both our lives.

GIS with combined flair of cartography is rare. From our student days at Geography Department-University of Auckland, to number of his beautiful map presentations, I will remember Igor.

I had the pleasure of meeting Igor in person at a couple of conferences and was very pleased to meet him and share his love of cartography.   I would ask that you pass on our condolences to his family on behalf of the Mapping Sciences Institute, Australia.

My name is Anna. My husband Mirek went to high school with Igor and Iwona in Poland. They were very good friends actually great friends who kept in contact throughout the years. It is hard to write for me not to mention my husband who is grieving to this day. We lost two best friends who were perfect in every way. Good, humble, caring, loving, had great faith, never talked bad about others, had respect for everyone. They always saw the good , never the bad, loved their family very much. Their daughters meant the world to them and when they would come to Poland we would always see new pictures and learn new details. I meet Igor's parents a long time ago and they were the same as Igor. Good, caring, humble and made you feel like you were part of their family; that is how Igor and Iwona made you feel also.

The last time we saw each other was in April 2023. They came to Poland for six weeks to be with Iwona's mom who is elderly and needed help. Igor and Iwona came to our house for dinner and then we meet two more times after that. We talked, laughed and remembered the good old times. Mirek and Igor talked about the good old days in high school and when Igor had a New Year's party once at his house and they played soccer in his backyard which was full of snow. But faith, religion, books, passion for the mountains, family and friends were talked about the most. I admired these talks and listening to them speak because in a world of hate and a lot of chaos they still knew what were the most important things in life. Iwona and I listened quietly and time to time said a few words of our own. Then came laughter from Igor because he just remembered something. His laughter wasn't like anybody's laugh which made everyone laugh even harder. Iwona was very humble and such a great person, had a genuine heart she was quiet and always had a smile on her face. What a great person and friend too. They loved each other very much; you could see this love in their eyes, how they spoke to each other and how they held each other. A lot of us could have learned from them. I will really miss our talks, time spent together....precious time. But, I know that God has two beautiful angels with him now and I know that one day we will all meet again!!

Rest in Peace Igor and Iwona. We love you and miss you both very much. " I w życiu więc i w śmierci należymy do Pana."

Igor was amazing, and I believe initially the driving force behind re-invigorating the NZ Carto Society. As someone who came through as the Society was fading, his passion was great to see. Even though I have little involvement, I have kept an eye on its goings-on with interest. I'd unfortunately not caught up with Igor since his move to Wellington, but in the past had numerous dinners when I was visiting Auckland or him Wellington. Talking all things carto, and more, these were always a pleasure and he always made time even when it was an unannounced pop-in to Auckland University.

Igor was the only person who I found could best my penchant for saving/archiving (or maybe hoarding is a fair description) historic NZ carto ephemera. I'd often contact him with L&S/DoSLI/Terralink items I was getting rid of thinking no way he'd want 'this one' but every time Igor took them to add to his ever growing carto archive - apologies to whoever is now left to sort/dispose of these artifacts :) I still have in my office an envelope of items and large book of Auckland aerial photography flight plan maps that both have his name on them - not figuratively but a literal post it note with Igor scrawled on it. These have served as an important reminder to not put off making intended contact with people.

Some years back, Igor and his colleagues invited the Australian & New Zealand Map Society to join in on one of the GeoCart conferences, to add a heritage aspect and to bring in the map society's Australian perspective. In talking to Igor about this, I found at once a shared belief that pooling our research and ideas would naturally be of benefit, without worrying too much about any inhibitions or impediments. Igor's practical good sense and generous spirit made collaboration easy.

In the following years ANZMapS has joined in several GeoCarts and other events on both sides of the 'ditch', and online, building knowledge, relationships, and friendships. For Igor, there were always possibilities, options, added value to be found. I shared with him the ambition of achieving a spatial approach to understanding cartographic collections, and as I had then the role of maps curator at the National Library of Australia, it was a great pleasure both personally and professionally to hear that he'd been appointed to head up the Cartographic Collections at the Alexander Turnbull Library, and that these were in such good hands. I was grateful as well that more recently with Igor's support ANZMapS was accepted as an associate member of the International Cartographic Association, another collaboration that Igor has helped make possible, and put us all on a great setting for the future. We will always carry Igor’s intelligent good humour, generosity, inspiration and influence with us.

So sorry to learn of his tragic death. Living Streets Aotearoa was delighted to work with Igor on the production of the Newtown / Berhampore walking map in 2009. Would be wonderful to have more useful maps like this, not just Googlemaps' commercial ubiquity.

Igor was an amazing and creative cartographer and a warm community-minded human. 

We were deeply shocked and profoundly saddened by the news of Igor's passing. Those of us at Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research who had the privilege of knowing and collaborating with Igor extend our heartfelt condolences to his family during this difficult period. While Igor's contributions to our organisation were not many, the impact he made was significant and highly regarded. Access to his expertise was a valued asset, and his enthusiasm to assist us in digitising our large paper map collection and to enhance our archiving efforts left a lasting impression on us. Igor's presence was not only professionally meaningful but also personally enjoyable. I valued the conversations we had, and the opportunity to engage with a fellow cartographic enthusiast like him was special. Our most recent conversations had ignited plans for a promising collaboration on a new initiative. I will miss him not being by my side as we try to take this forward without his invaluable contributions. He will be a great loss to the New Zealand cartographic community.

I met Igor through ICA. We became friends as well as colleagues, and thus began my long involvement with NZCS and GeoCart. He changed the direction of my life Life in opening up new avenues, new collaborations, and new friendships. I hold dear the many personal moments we shared, when we'd find a quiet corner at a conference and 'fix' various cartographic issues and situations. And more than that, we shared laughter. The sadness at his, and Iwona's tragic passing fills my heart. My life is so much richer through knowing Igor, yet there's now a void. His energy, enthusiasm, and deep passion were inspirational. I miss him.

Igor was the kind of person who you’d do anything for. He had a passionate magnetism that you couldn’t help but get swept up in.