Andrew F. Kozak, 63, award-winning economics educator

YOU DIDN'T say anything derogatory about Philadelphia in Andy Kozak's presence.

His wife, Rebecca, found that out when she first met him back in the early 1990s. She had been on a business trip to Philly and was not impressed.

Andrew was with a group of friends at St. Mary's College of Maryland, where he was a teacher, when she approached them and launched into a diatribe about how filthy the city was.

"He looked at me and said very calmly, 'That's my home, that's my heart.' I guess he forgave me because we were together 23 years," she said.

"You know the saying, 'You can take the boy out of Philly, but you can't take Philly out of the boy.' That was Andrew. His heart was always in Philadelphia."

Andrew F. Kozak, who rose from economics teacher at St. Mary's to chairman of the Department of Economics in an award-winning 28-year career, a community activist, author and Army veteran of the Vietnam War, died Oct. 16 of lung cancer. He was 63.

Andy's focus as an economics educator was the study of the plight of the inner-city poor. "That was his life's mission," his wife said. It was a subject he knew from his own experience.

He was born in the 5th Street and Girard Avenue area of Northern Liberties. His father, John J. Kozak Sr., was a teamster. The neighborhood, at that time, was predominantly Slovakian and was one of the city's poorest. His mother was Emma H. Kozak.

"He used to say he was a street kid from a good family," his wife said.

Andy attended St. Agnes Parochial School and graduated from Roman Catholic High School.

He served in the Army Medical Corps from May 1970 to December 1971, at the 5th Evacuation Hospital at Fort Bragg, N.C.

"Because of his calm and steady demeanor, he was able to talk to wounded soldiers and help to ease their pain," his wife said.

After the Army, he went to La Salle University, where he majored in economics and graduated in 1979. He worked at the old Philadelphia Electric Co., as a "glorified secretary," as he put it, to help pay his tuition.

He then earned master's and doctorate degrees in economics at Notre Dame University in 1981 and 1983. He started teaching at St. Mary's College in 1984 and "quickly established himself as one of the best teachers on the campus," the school said in a tribute.

Andy was awarded the Homer L. Dodge Excellence in Teaching Award in 1988 and was promoted to associate professor in 1991. He was the director of the Honors Program/Paul Nitze Scholars Program from 1998 to 2003. He served as chairman of the Economics Department from 2004 to 2009, and from 2011 to 2012.

He represented the college on the Board of Maryland Collegiate Honors Council and was a past president.

He wrote numerous conference papers and gave many presentations. He co-authored Markets, Planning and the Moral Economy, a book about business cycles in Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal in the '30s.

Andy was popular with his students because he not only taught them, he was there for them if they needed to talk. In appreciation, they awarded him the Student Government Faculty Service Award in 1987 and again in 1997.

Andy also volunteered his expertise in urban economics and fiscal planning as a board member of the St. Mary's County Community Development Corp., and was a commissioner of the St. Mary's County Housing Authority.

Besides his wife, he is survived by a stepson, Aaron Boyles, and two sisters, Barbara M. Coady and Ginger Bohar.

Services: Funeral Mass 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. Agnes/St. John Church, 4th and Brown streets. Friends may call at 9 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to St. Mary's College of Maryland Foundation for a scholarship in his name, 18952 E. Fisher Road, St. Mary's City, Md., 20686.