Shimon "Sol" Mednick, a retired research chemist who enjoyed visiting ancient sites in Central and South America, died of pneumonia Friday at the Edenwald Retirement Community in Towson. He was 83.
Dr. Mednick was born and raised in New York City and earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry in 1942 from the City College of New York.
He worked as a chemist at the Calvert Distillery in Relay until being drafted into the Army in 1944. He served in the China-Burma-India theater and was severely wounded while loading ammunition aboard a train, said his wife of 60 years, the former Dorrie Asbell.
He earned his master's degree and doctorate in chemistry in the early 1950s at the University of Maryland, College Park.
He was a research chemist for more than 30 years for FMC Corp., formerly Food Machinery Corp., on Patapsco Avenue in Brooklyn and, from 1972 until his retirement in 1983, at its research and development center in Princeton, N.J.
He lived in Pikesville until moving to the retirement community with his wife in 2000.
After visiting Mexico, Dr. Mednick became fascinated with the ancient culture and historic sites associated with the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans, and on subsequent visits documented many of them on film.
He was a founder of the Pre-Columbian Society at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia, which is also a repository for several of his photographs.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Edenwald, 800 Southerly Road.
Dr. Mednick is survived by his wife and a son, Sheldon I. Mednick of Edgewater Park, N.J. Two other sons are deceased. Jonathan Mednick died in 2001, and Herschel Mednick died in 1971.
