CHICAGO — George Swiderski's incredible life is now in book form.
The 74-year-old founder of Old World Taxidermy boasts an incredible display of preserved wildlife, carved wood art and other collectibles from around the world at his northwest suburban home, which looks more like an exhibit hall at the Field Museum.
Many of the hundreds of big-game prizes — including lions, leopards, bison, tigers, musk ox, grizzly bear, wolves, springbok, warthogs and fox — are ones he successfully hunted on expeditions all over the planet.
The former Chicago resident and his wife, Slawa — also an accomplished hunter — celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2014 at their home — which mirrors the flora of the Prussian estate where he grew up — for the festivities.
Since 2012, Swiderski had hand-written his life's words on paper. His wife typed them, and Swiderski recently self-published a book called "The Forester's Son." The 500-plus-page book, which includes 60-plus pages of photographs, was released in late 2015 and has sold about 200 copies, Swiderski said. It sells for $35.
"It's a historical memoir," Swiderski said Tuesday. "There's a little bit of everything. I wanted to have my entire story told. I'm very, very, very happy with the outcome."
Swiderski's childhood was spent in northern Poland. The son of a forester, he learned to hunt as a young boy, seeking mink, beaver, jackrabbit, otter, wild boar, robuck and red fox.
Swiderski's parents and older brother came to the United States in the late 1950s, and he followed them in 1960. At 19, he departed Poland with $6, and spent $3 on a pewter miniature Eiffel Tower in Paris that he still has today.
For 12 years, Swiderski lived in the city, first in Ukrainian Village, then Portage Park near Six Corners. He had to wait two years for Slawa to exit Poland, and the couple wrote scores of love letters they crafted into a compilation "Jurek I Slawka," translated in English to "George and Slawa."
In Chicago, Swiderski studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago during the day while working evening hours as a cloth cutter for Hart Schaffner and Marx, a high-end men's wardrobe company. The experiences prepared him for work in taxidermy, which began as a hobby but turned into a full-time profession when the couple went to Palatine and he quit his job because he said his bosses wouldn't let him go on a week-long hunting trip for black bears in the Smoky Mountains.
The Swiderskis have traveled the globe, but their favorite destination has been Africa, which they've safaried 13 times, staying for at least four weeks every occasion. Most of their adventures have led to big-game trophies, which have found their way back to their spacious home.
"We'll probably make one more trip, for the grand finale," Swiderski said.
The couple have hosted countless children's field trips to their home, which rivals any museum's collection.
Slawa, who has 50-plus big-game trophies to her credit, prides herself on hunting all of them with only one shot. Both she and her husband stress their worst nightmare is wounding an animal.
"I have to be 100 percent sure that each shot I take is deadly," Slawa said in 2014. "I have one animal to hunt, and I get one bullet."
George concurred, saying he's had that mindset whether he's hunting in the crisping heat of the Kalahari Desert or 40-degree-below icebox of the Canadian Arctic. The book documents both, with a chapter devoted to his hunt of musk ox far north of the Arctic Circle.
"I've done a lot of things in my life, but I would say this is the most important accomplishment in my life," Swiderski said.
For more information on "The Forester's Son," call Swiderski at 847-359-6938 or email taxidermyowt@aol.com.
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