Walter Szrek's CatalogWalter Szrek's Catalog
Celebrating Walter Szrek: A Life Full of Collections, Connections, and Curiosity
Born in 1951 in post-World War II Poland, Walter Szrek—named Wlodzimierz and called Wlodek at home—was the son of Jewish parents, Emil Szrek and Maria Walach. Both his parents were Holocaust survivors, determined to build a brighter future for their children, and they did just that. They created a close-knit family with their sons, Wlodek and Lolek, and friends who had survived the war and lost their relatives. For Wlodek, their hard work and family focus were the core values that shaped his existence and carried into his family life with his wife Irena and their three daughters Helena, Asia, and Monika.
Walter’s journey through life was a vibrant mosaic of personal achievements, strong friendships, close family bonds and love of travel and exploration. A brilliant thinker and software engineer thanks to his education at Politechnika Warszawska (Warsaw Polytechnics), he set off for the USA in 1979 with his wife Irena, and their young daughters Helena and Asia. Once in the US Wlodek, now called Walter, became a principal system architect and developer in the lottery business startup that quickly rose to the top of the industry in the ‘80s and ‘90s. His groundbreaking contributions became many of the de-facto standards still used in the lottery world today. After 24 years at GTECH, he and Irena founded Szrek2Solutions, revolutionizing the lottery industry with their Trusted Draw random number generation solution.
Wlodek was an avid collector with a flair for the eclectic, starting from Polish posters to beer-bottle openers, white advertising figures (like Michelin men), and finally, calculating machines. His fascination with mechanical calculators turned into an internationally recognized collection of over seven hundred devices, artifacts, and publications. Wlodek co-created a major reference website, Rechenmaschinen-Illustrated, and a personal site dedicated to his calculator collection. Often on Sunday mornings, Walter was up early and heading to a flea market or antique store, “on the hunt.” He enjoyed the pursuit at least as much as the catch. In 1999, Walter and Irena moved for a few years back to Poland, with their youngest daughter Monika, to be close to their elderly parents. At Warsaw’s antique flea market, “Kolo,” Wlodek’s fascination with artifacts, WW2 memorabilia, Jewish cartoons, and calculating devices grew. In 2000 when he bought a Russian (Original) Odhner “A” from 1907, he officially caught a new collecting bug. Over time, he found more of these machines at Kolo and other antique fairs. He was fascinated by the devices’ inventors, their ingenuity and the history surrounding them. And so, his collection grew . He formed a relationship with Tadeusz Kabzinski, an old-school craftsman in Warsaw’s Praga, who would repair the machines he found, restoring them to working order. Mr. Kabzinski’s affection for the devices was contagious, while restoring the machines he shared his fascination with them with Walter.
Over the years, the collection kept growing. There was an unspoken agreement between him and Irena that they would not discuss the purchasing details, and Walter would discretely find a space for them in their home. Over time, the shelves became a multi-layered labyrinth of machines, as books were evicted, and more devices moved in. Imagine a compilation of mechanical calculating devices that started small, like a modest toybox. Over time, it grew and evolved, sprouting new adders and multipliers, pinwheel machines, like a little boy’s hunt finding more toys. This treasure trove didn’t just sit around gathering dust; it has been an ever-expanding showcase of creativity and problem-solving. You would experience an abacus showing off its beads, a slide rule flexing its logarithms, a calculating machine shining its logo, introducing yet another carry method. Each device has brought its own gift, demonstrating a unique way to tackle mathematical challenges as if the collection itself were alive and eager to teach.
In 2010, Wlodek was working in Vienna, Austria when the volcano in Iceland voided the skies of aircraft across Europe. Unable to return home to Rhode Island, USA, he headed to Poland by train, stopping off in Krakow. He visited Collegium Maius Museum, located in Kraków’s Old Town in the Jagiellonian University's oldest building, dating back to the 14th century, housing ancient scientific instruments. Walter was interested in seeing their collection and met the Museum’s curator, Ewa Wyka, forming a friendship that lasted for many years. Wlodek shared with Ewa their common enthusiasm for the artifacts and discovery of their provenance, returning to Krakow with Irena several times to visit.
By 2018, Walter decided it was time to create a catalog of the collection. Over two weeks, each of the 600 machines was documented, photographed, measured, and weighed, and returned to the shelf with a catalog number. Asia and her husband Hal took on this laborious task. The catalog grew, with thousands of hours spent adding details as Walter continued to learn more about the machines and their history. As the treasure trove grew, new entries were added, … and so it went.
When Walter learned of his cancer, his zest for collecting didn’t wane. He would forget about his health problems when he was researching and sharing information about the machines with other collectors and friends, or on the prowl for new ones. His catalog has transformed from a Word document into a professional printed catalog. In his final months, Walter decided to donate the collection to the Collegium Maius, who were enthusiastic in receiving the collection to carry it on, safeguard and exhibit it in the Museum and University’s Math Department where it can also serve for teaching purposes. Water was grateful that they valued the opportunity to take on the curation of the collection and happy to know it would continue to educate and inspire all those who would see it in years to come.
In his last weeks, Walter didn’t have much energy, yet he found the strength to share his knowledge and fascination with the collection with family and friends, spending hours on video calls from his bed. What a gift he offered to the world, of creative exploration, mathematical genius, love, and service.