JURGIS LEBEDYS
Pranas Skardzius
Jurgis Lebedys (1913-1970), literary historian, born at Devynduoniai, county of
Kedainiai, 
on Jan. 12, 1913. He graduated from the university
of Kaunas in 1937, and then taught for several years at the secondary schools in Utena,
Skuodas and Panevezys. In 1946 he became an assistant instructor in Lithuanian literature
at the University of Vilnius, receiving his candidate’s (master’s) degree at the
same university in 1953. He was appointed an assistant professor in 1956 and after
receiving a doctor’s degree in 1963 he was promoted to associate professor in 1968.
From 1953-1954 and from 1967-1970 he was chairman of the department of Lithuanian
literature. Lebedys died in Vilnius on June 12, 1970.
His master’s thesis about the Lithuanian writer Simonas Stanevicius was published as a separate monograph (Simonas Stanevicius, 1955). A major scholarly contribution is his doctoral dissertation, consisting of a definitive biography of the Lithuanian writer Mikalojus Dauksa describing his life and his work (Mikalojus Dauksa, 1963).