Richard Cosby | WWII resistance fighter, 86

Richard Cosby, 86, a Polish resistance fighter during World War II who escaped a Nazi prison camp and retired as a civil engineer in the Washington area, died June 25 at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Virginia.

He had metastatic prostate cancer, said his daughter, television journalist Rita Cosby.

Mr. Cosby's exploits were detailed in his daughter's 2010 book, Quiet Hero: Secrets From My Father's Past. She wrote that her father left the family on Christmas 1983 and was largely estranged from her for more than 25 years.

In 2008, Rita Cosby discovered an old suitcase that contained some of her father's World War II possessions, including his resistance armband and POW identification. She reconnected with him.

Mr. Cosby told her that he had seen his hometown destroyed by Nazi bombs and, still a teenager, lied about his age to join the resistance during the German occupation. He participated in the Warsaw uprising in 1944 and was eventually captured by German forces. He spent months in a Nazi prison camp.

After his liberation by the Americans in 1945, Mr. Cosby served in the Polish II Corps, an Allied unit. After the war, he received a civil engineering degree from the University of London in 1954. Two years later, he moved to the United States and lived for many years in Connecticut. He joined Mueser Rutledge in the early 1960s and moved to the Washington area in the mid-1980s. He retired from the consulting engineering firm in 1992.

Mr. Cosby was born Ryszard Kossobudzki in Brzesc, Poland.

His marriage, to the former Adda Arenfeldt ended in divorce. In addition to his daughter Rita, survivors include his wife of 26 years, Judith Hoyt Cosby; sons Alan and Eric; and two grandchildren. - Washington Post