Leo Vroman (born April 10, 1915) is a Dutch-American hematologist, a prolific poet mainly in Dutch and an illustrator. Vroman was born in Gouda and he studied biology in Utrecht. When the Nazis occupied the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, he fled to London. From there he traveled to the Dutch East Indies. He finished his studies in Batavia. After the Japanese occupied Indonesia he was interned and stayed in several prisoner-of-war camps. In the camp Tjimahi he befriended famous author Tjalie Robinson and Rob Nieuwenhuys.
After the war, Vroman went to New York where he worked as a hematology researcher. He has been an American citizen since 1951.
In 1946, he published his first poems in the Netherlands. He has since won almost every Dutch literary poetry prize possible. In 1970 Leo Vroman was awarded the Individual Science Award, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.
In 2003, his former highschool, de Goudse ScholenGemeenschap (GSG), changed its name into de Goudse ScholenGemeenschap Leo Vroman (GSG Leo Vroman), to honour their famous student.
Vroman now lives in Fort Worth, Texas in the United States of America.
Read more about Leo Vroman: Prose, Children's Books, Theater, Scientific Work
Famous quotes containing the words leo vroman and/or leo:
“I’d rather be homesick than home.”
—Leo Vroman (b. 1915)
“Leo: What was she, a TV groupie? A hooker?
Rob: No, she was not a TV groupie, or a hooker. She’s a cellist. A very funny, pretty, interesting, intelligent, fabulous, vivacious cellist.
Leo: Oh yeah, well, you’d better not see her again.”
—Jonathan Reynolds, screenwriter. Leo (Richard Mulligan)