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Helena Z. Lopata
Helena Z. Lopata (October 1, 1925-Feburaru 12, 2003) she was a prominent Polish American sociologist. She published numerous books and articles covering social roles, women, employment, the life course, time, friendship, family. Her work has contributed greatly to the understanding of aging and the recognition that marriage is a temporary status or stage that women experience Her father's theory of social roles greatly influenced much if her work. She was also a Professor Emerita of Sociology at Loyola University of Chicago and a leading expert on widowhood.

Life & Education
Helena Lopata was born in Poznan, Poland during the Nazi rule to sociologist Florian Znaniecki and attorney Eileen Markey. Lopata came to the United States during her high school years where she finished school in Chicago, Illinois. After high school she attended University of Illinois where she received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and then later her PhD in sociology. She went on to teach at Roosevelt University and then at Loyola University where she served as the chair of the department and Director of the Center for the Comparative Study of Social Roles. She also took her teaching on the road as a visiting professor at University of Southern California, Minnesota, Guelph, Victoria and Boston College. In 1946 Lopata married businessman Richard Lopata and had a son, Stefan and daughter, Theodora. She died in 2002 at the age of 77 in Devlan Lake, Wisconsin.

Career Highlights and Accomplishments
Helena Lopata published twenty books during her career along with numerous articles. She was elected to many presidencies throughout her career for organizations including SWS, SSSP, chair of many ASA committees, and participated in many seminars relating to family and the sociology of aging. She did a lot of research on the occupational housewife that changed many ways Americans looked at the changing roles of women during that time and wrote a book on that topic which was pretty much the first book about such a topic. She was a professor at Roosevelt University before going to Loyola in 1969 where she did most of her research.

Publications
-Women in America: Work, Jobs, Occupations, Careers

-Circles and Settings-Roles Changes of American Women

-City Women

-Current Research on Occupations and Professions 1996: Getting Down to Business

-Current Widowhood: Myths & Realities