Vincent James Polidora
June 15, 1931 - October 4, 2024
Surrounded by his loving family, Vincent James Polidora (Jim) passed away peacefully at his his home in Tarzana, California on October 4, 2024. He was 93 years old.
Born on June 15, 1931 in Leetsdale, PA, Jim was the eldest of two children born to Vincent James Polidora and Mary Kuzma.
Jim graduated with honors from Ambridge High School 1949. After working a variety of odd jobs, he enrolled at Ohio State University in 1950. That year, he also joined the famous Ohio State Marching Band (The Best Damn Band in the Land) playing the French and the Alto horns. Marching in the 1958 Rose Bowl was a lifelong highlight, along with being the inaugural recipient of the “Most Inspirational Bandsman” award.
He also joined the Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC) in the Armor Advanced division and served for six years.
He and his first wife, Michelle (Madge/Mickie) Johnson, met as students in Columbus and married in 1956. They had three children, Ligeia Anne (Patrick Smith), Roxane Alicia (Ed Duckers) and Kyle Polidora.
He completed his PhD in Physiological Psychology at Ohio State in 1959. He was awarded a one year post-doc fellowship at University of Illinois at Chicago’s Neuropsychiatric Institute. In 1960, he joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he was a prolific and widely published researcher and professor.
After divorcing his first wife, he moved to California and taught at UC-Irvine and then UC-Davis Medical School.
In addition to teaching core academic classes, Jim became a leader in the then-nascent mind-body wellness movement. He expanded his professional training to include gestalt and body therapy, hatha yoga, polarity therapy, Tai Chi Chuan, breathwork, Feldendkrais, intensive journaling, meditation and somatic work.
Jim’s students revered him. He sought ways to help them succeed and grow as people as well as future doctors. Many expressed his profound and lasting effect on their lives and careers. Jim brought the real world into his classrooms and helped expose students to diverse cultures, poverty-related health issues, sexism in medicine, mental illness abuses, criminal justice (with field trips to prisons) and placing medicine into the context of the wider culture.
Jim met and married the love of his life, Roseanne Blonsky in 1975. He and Rosey shared a deeply loving partnership.
After leaving academia in 1984, he founded The AVIVA Wellness Institute and worked with non-profits and businesses throughout the state.
A community activist, Jim developed an innovative class titled Mind-Body Biology, Stretching, Breathing and Relaxation that he then offered free to area residents which became very popular. In retirement, he was a volunteer counselor for men in a residential drug abuse program. He was also a vocal anti-war activist during the Vietnam War and the many wars that followed.
An intensely passionate man, he was widely read in the areas of literature, world religions, mythology, philosophy, music, history, art and politics. In Jim, the world lost a lovely ballroom dancer, film buff, romantic, eccentric dreamer, intelligent, generous, funny and complicated man.
Jim is survived by his beloved wife Rosey, his children, their spouses, and three grandchildren Isabel Carroway, Alexandra Rose, and Vincent Kaden Polidora. Jim was also very close to his sister and brother-in-law, Gloria and Richard Pink. He was preceded in death by his parents, and his brother Ronald.
He will be laid to rest in the Los Angeles National Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Planned Parenthood and Doctors Without Borders. His family would like to thank caregiver Ani Afaryan, and the staff at Skirball Hospice.
He was a titan of wisdom and love and will be greatly missed. He was a rare gem.
Jim was a member of the marching band from 1950 through 1955 and in 1957 and 1958. He played Alto Horn in R-Row. In 1957 Jim was voted “Most Inspirational Bandsman” by his peers.
