In Memory of Yar Slavutych

It is with great sadness that the family of Professor Yar Slavutych announces his passing in Edmonton on July 4, 2011. A private family service took place Saturday, July 11 in Edmonton.

Yar Slavutych was born in Blahodatne, Central Ukraine. He was fifteen years old when his grandparents and the youngest of his three sisters died of starvation in the Ukrainian famine of 1932 to 1933, along with seven to ten million of their countrymen. Young Yar’s grandfather, who died in his arms, asked him to promise to inform the world of the famine.

At the end of [World War II], Yar was a Displaced Person in Berlin and then in Bavaria, where he was selected to move to the United States. In the camp he fell in love with and married Elwira Ziebarth in 1948, and the couple moved to the United States shortly thereafter. Yar completed an MA and PhD at the University of Pennsylvania, and the couple moved to Monterey, California, where he taught at the Army Language School. With the birth of son Bohdan and daughter Oksana, the family moved to Edmonton where Yar accepted a position in the newly formed Department of Slavic Languages, where he worked until his retirement in 1988.

He is perhaps best known by a generation of Ukrainian school children in Canada for his Ukrainian text books, such as Ukrainian for Beginners and Conversational Ukrainian, which helped to standardize the way Ukrainian was taught despite the many dialect differences. In academic circles he was recognized for his prolific writing, both poetry and literary history (one of his most popular poetry books is called “Conquerors of the Prairies”). Yar also kept his grandfather’s dying wish by conducting research and publishing in both English and Ukrainian on the loss of life in Ukraine at that time. This work ultimately helped gain international recognition of an event that had been largely ignored outside Ukraine.

Yar was predeceased by his wife, devoted life partner and colleague Elwira on March 11, 2003. Since that time, he continued to work daily in the family home on his poetry and literary research, with breaks to visit with family and pursue his favourite sport,
swimming. Prof. Slavutych is survived by his son Bohdan Slavutych, former daughter-in-law Judy Slavutych, grandsons Bohdan Slavutych Jr. (wife Erin Slavutych) and Lev Slavutych, all of Edmonton; daughter Oksana Slavutych (husband Marc-Philippe Gagne) and his granddaughter Emmanuelle Slavutych Gagne of Toronto.

In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully suggests donations to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

Edmonton Journal,

 9 July 201

Vichna Iomu Pam'yat'!1