Spartan Profiles: Patricia Orlowitz
MOLDOVAN ACRES
More than a half century ago, the Communist government of Moldavia—a small nation tucked between Ukraine and Romania—confiscated the land from regional farmers to create inefficient collective farms. Today, nearly 1 million Moldovans have reclaimed their land, thanks largely to the efforts of Patricia (Wilde) Orlowitz, ’79, deputy director of the Center for Private Business Reform, a nonprofit group partly funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Orlowitz spent the last three years helping arrange for the land transfers. “People walk forward to receive their title and you see tears in their eyes,” she recounted to People magazine (Nov. 6, 2000, pp. 62-67), which calls her the “backbone” of the project. “In many ways, farming and land ownership shaped values in our country,” explains the woman Moldavan farmers call Doamna (Romanian for “Mrs.”) Patricia. “Now, Moldova is shaping a new democracy. This is the kind of job that I wake up every day and feel good about it.”
A native of Detroit, Patricia chose MSU to study agriculture and natural resources. “After meeting Maxine Ferris (then head of Ag Communication) I knew I had found the perfect place—combining agriculture and journalism.”
Maxine and Kirk Heinze, her advisor, and later MSU’s alumni network, helped her succeed. She stays in touch with that network, and also keeps track of MSU basketball. “My niece Maggie can play the Spartan Fight Song on her clarinet as a treat for Aunt Patty,” she notes.
Today, as a friend remarked, she is more Moldovan than most Moldovans. “I hope she’s right,” says Patricia. “I’ve certainly fallen in love with Moldova and the farmers. Sometimes it takes a stranger’s eyes to see the beauty of a country. I’m lucky to be here today, when history is in the making. How often does one see a democracy start? See a country grow?”
