It may be best to offer in place of an obituary Ed’s own brief memoir, published in MELA Notes 80 (2007), pp. 1-26, entitled “A Look Back.” He begins this memoir with epigraphs both from classical Arabic literature (in the form of a modified quotation from al-Ghazali, “For you have asked me, my brethren in librarianship, about the reasons why I have done this or that”) and from Hollywood, quoting the fictional Turkish head of the British Secret Service’s Istanbul branch in “From Russia with Love,” “I’ve had a particularly fascinating life. Would you like to hear about it?” What follows can serve as only the barest outlines of this fascinating life.
Ed Jajko was born in Philadelphia in 1940, the son of Wladyslaw and Aniela (Luszcak). Many may not know how visible the Polish-American community in Philadelphia remains even to this day. His memoir clearly indicates how proud he was of his Polish heritage, and he is listed in the first edition of “Who’s Who in Polish America” (Bicentennial Publishing Corp.: 1996).
After completing his undergraduate education at the University of Pennsylvania in 1962, focusing on archaeology, Hebrew and Arabic, Ed went on to advanced Arabic study in Cairo at the Center for Arabic Study from 1965-1967. Along the way he pursued additional graduate study in Arabic and Hebrew at the University of Pennsylvania between 1963 and 1969. As a graduate student he found himself drawn to library work as an alternative to a traditional academic career, and eventually completed his graduate education with a Master of Science degree from Columbia’s School of Library Service (as it was then called) in 1970.
His first professional position, beginning in 1970, was as the Near East Bibliographer/Cataloguer at Yale University Library in New Haven, CT, succeeding Leon Nemoy who had held the title of Curator of Hebrew and Arabic Literature at Yale for 28 years. Like Nemoy, Ed had dual responsibility for Yale’s Judaica and Near East collections. During his time at Yale his title changed several times, and by the time he left in 1982 he was Curator of the Middle East Collection. In 1982 he moved on to the role of Middle East curator at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, a post he held until his retirement in 2003.
His professional service included membership in several professional organizations, and he was among the earliest members of the Middle East Librarians Association (MELA, founded 1972) from 1974. He served five years as an officer of MELA: as MELA Vice-President (1977/78, 1987/88, and 1997/98), as Member-at-Large (1995/96) and as president of MELA from 1988/89. He also served as book-review editor of MELA Notes from 1991/94. Representing the Hoover Institution, he was one of the founding members of what was then called the Middle East Microforms Project (MEMP, now the Middle East Materials Project) of the Center for Research Libraries in Chicago in 1987. Ed was a long-time member of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) as well as the Turkish Studies Association, the American Oriental Society, and the World Association for International Studies. His career and contributions to his profession were recognized when in 2020 Ed was named among three co-recipients of MELA’s prestigious David H. Partington Award, given in acknowledgment of MELA members “who have displayed a high standard of excellence and accomplishments in and contributions to the field of Middle East librarianship, librarianship in general, and the world of scholarship.” In 2021, MELA acknowledged Ed’s longtime advocacy of a book award for the organization by creating the first-ever MELA Book Award Committee, which in that year recognized five authors for their contributions to bibliography and reference scholarship.
Ed was a “joiner” and in addition to his professional service, he served on school committees as well as on the parish advisory council of his church, St. Joseph of Cupertino, CA. Ed leaves behind beloved wife Pamela (Frazer), children Edward and Angela, and many loving family members, friends, and former colleagues.