Taras Zakydalsky (1941–2007)

Colleagues and staff at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) mourn the loss of Dr. Taras Zakydalsky, who died on November 8, 2007, after a brief battle with brain cancer.

Taras was born in Lviv on February 2, 1941. He and his mother emigrated from a displaced-persons camp in Germany to Toronto in the late 1940s. Taras majored in philosophy at the University of Toronto and Bryn Mawr College, where he wrote an M.A. thesis on Hryhorii Skovoroda (1965) and a Ph.D. dissertation on Nikolai Fyodorov (1976). He taught at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania before returning to Toronto in 1978. Throughout his life, Taras was an active member of the Plast Ukrainian scouting organization. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, he took part in the defence campaigns organized by the Smoloskyp Organization for the Defence of Human Rights in Ukraine and by the Toronto Committee in Defence of Soviet Political Prisoners.

Taras had a long relationship with the CIUS, serving as a translator (1978–­82), manuscript editor (1982–­93), and subject editor in philosophy (1988–­2007) of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine and as editor of the Journal of Ukrainian Studies (2003­–2007). He taught philosophy at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy National University (1994, 1995 and 2000), edited the journal Russian Studies in Philosophy (1998–­2007), and served on the executive of the Shevchenko Scientific Society of Canada. Those who knew Taras will remember him for his unflagging commitment to scholarship, enlightenment, human rights, and the Ukrainian community, and for his playful wit and good humour. His family has requested that donations in his memory be sent to the Ostroh Academy, c/o 505 Annette St., Toronto ON, M6P 1S1.

CIUS extends its sincere condolences to Taras’ mother Natalia, his wife Oksana, his sons Danylo and Orest, his daughter-in-law Anna, his grandson Taras, and his many other relatives, friends, and colleagues in Canada, the United States, and Ukraine.

Roman Senkus