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Authority record
Kucher, Michael Stanislaw
Person · 1924 - 2007

Kucher, Mykhailo Stanislaw (September 27, 1924, village of Chornokintsi Velyki near Chortkiv, Halychyna - March 31, 2007, Edmonton, Canada) was born to the family of Petro and Maria (Mniendzybrodzka - Мнєндзибродзка [Mendzydrocka???]) Kucher. Arrived in Canada in 1952.

In 1960, he was one of the founders and a secretary of the Edmonton Branch of the Brotherhood of Former Soldiers of the First Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army (Stanycia Bratstva kolyshnikh voiakiv Pershoi ukrainskoi dyvizii Ukrainskoi natsionalnoi armii v Edmontoni). Later on, he became the head of the Edmonton branch of the organization and held this position for 12 years. He was also the head of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Alberta Provincial Council. Worked as an electrical engineer.

Kulesha, Gary
Person · 1954-

Composer and conductor Gary Kulesha (b. 1954, Toronto, Canada) studied piano, music theory and composition at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He later studied composition with John McCabe in London and John Corigliano in New York. As a conductor he is largely self-taught. Kulesha has worked as composer in residence at the Stratford Festival, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian Opera Company, and as composer-advisor to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Since 1991 he has been on the music faculty of the University of Toronto. Kulesha’s output includes three symphonies, concertos for violin, cello, winds and brass, numerous orchestral pieces, chamber works for strings, winds, brass and percussion, solo piano works, two operas, art songs, choral works and incidental music. He is married to composer Larysa Kuzmenko.

Kupiak, Dmytro
Person · 1918-1995

Dmytro Kupiak (November 06, 1918, Yabloniwka village, Lviv Region, Halychyna - June 13, 1995, Toronto, Canada) was born in a family of Yuriy and Anna (nee Zdrazhil’).

In 1943, Kupiak graduated from the Institute for Trade in Lviv. In 1943-1945, he was a member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. He immigrated to Canada in 1948 and settled in Edmonton, Alberta. In 1953, he got Canadian citizenship. The same year, 1953, Kupiak married Stefania Khorkava. In 1955, he and his family moved to Toronto, Ontario. In 1972, he ran for the election as a member of the Conservative Party. At that time, he was charged by the Soviet Union with committing war crimes.

Kupiak was a member of the Ukrainian Professional and Business Club, the Canadian Legion, the Knights of Columbus - Sheptytsky Council, the businessmen’s association “Queens-Tavern” and many others. He was the owner of the “Mayfair Inn” and a tavern in Toronto.

Sources:
“Купяк Дмитро.” Марунчак, Михайло. Біографічний довідник до історії українців Канади. Вінніпеґ: Українська Вільна Академія Наук в Канаді, 1986, p. 362-363.

Kuzmenko, Larysa
Person · 1956-

Composer and pianist Larysa Kuzmenko (b. 1956, Mississauga, Canada) studied piano and composition at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and composition at the University of Toronto. She began performing as a pianist in 1972, while still in high school. She has taught piano, music theory, harmony and music history through the Royal Conservatory of Music since 1981 and at the University of Toronto since 1989. Kuzmenko began composing in the late 1970s, and her works include three piano concertos, a cello concerto, a cello sonata, chamber music for string quartet, winds, brass, percussion and accordion, works for solo piano and organ, song cycles and choral works. She has been a frequent collaborator of the Vesnivka Choir of Toronto and her works on Ukrainian themes include In Memoriam: To the Victims of Chornobyl for solo piano, “A Journey to a New Life” for string quartet, the oratorio The Golden Harvest and “Holy God” for a cappella choir. She is married to composer Gary Kulesha.

Kytasty, Hryhory
Person · 1907-1984

Composer, conductor and bandurist Hryhory Kytasty (b. 1907, Kobeliaky, Ukraine, d. 1984, San Diego, USA) came from a peasant family. His childhood coincided with the First World War, the rise and fall of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, the rise of Bolshevism and the imposition of collectivization. He studied vocal and choral music at the Poltava Music College and choral conducting at the Lysenko Music and Drama Institute in Kyiv, where he also studied the bandura. He sang in the Kyiv Opera Chorus and in 1934 joined the Kyiv Bandura Cappella, which subsequently became the State Bandura Cappella. During the Second World War the Cappella made its way to Germany, and after several years in displaced persons camps, Kytasty emigrated to the United States and settled in Detroit in 1949. There he immediately founded the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus, which he directed until 1958 and again from 1967 until his death. In 2008 he was named Hero of Ukraine posthumously. Kytasty composed more than 200 works, primarily for voice, chorus and bandura. In particular he was noted for the epic dumas he composed for male chorus and bandura ensemble.

Lahola, Ivan
Person · 1923-2001

Lagola Ivan is a public figure born in 1923, in the Zolochiv region of Western Ukraine. He passed away in Edmonton on November 14th, 2001. In 1943, he was arrested and sent to Nazi prisons and concentration camps (Zolochiv, Lviv, Birkenau, Auschwitz, Mattenhausen, Melk, Ebenze). On May 6th, 1945 he was released by American troops and lived in Germany until he moved to Canada in 1948. He lived in Edmonton and was a member of the Ukrainian Youth Association, secular Catholic organizations, the Committee of Ukrainian Political Prisoners.

Lawryshyn, Zenoby
Person · 1943-2017

Composer and conductor Zenoby Lawryshyn (b. 1943, Rudnyky, Ukraine, d. 2017, Toronto, Canada) came from a priestly family that left Ukraine during the Second World War. After several years in displaced persons camps in Austria and Germany, the family settled in Toronto in 1949. There he began private piano lessons with Lev Tyrkevych and Lubka Kolessa, before graduating from the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1961. In the mid-1960s he spent a year studying in Paris, before completing a degree in composition from the University of Toronto. Lawryshyn spent most of his career conducting Ukrainian-Canadian choirs, and as a result he composed primarily for voice and chorus, including 30 pieces for male chorus, two liturgies, a panakhyda, three cantatas and several song cycles for chorus. He also composed works for string ensemble, a string quartet, woodwind quintet and two piano trios. In addition, he arranged Ukrainian songs and carols for chamber instrumental ensembles.

Lazarowich, Peter John
Person · 1900-1983

Peter John Lazarowich, Ukrainian Canadian lawyer and community leader was born in a village of Bereziv, Kolomyia povit (later Pechenizynskyi povit, Germ. Bezirk Peczeniżyn, Pol. Powiat Peczeniżyński), Eastern Halychyna, Austro-Hungary, on December 28, 1900. He came to Canada with his parents, siblings and other relatives in 1903.

He was raised on a farm in the Province of Saskatchewan, fifty miles south of Prince Albert. He completed his Public School education in his own community and then proceeded to Saskatoon where he completed High School and Teachers College. He taught school for several years in various parts of Saskatchewan, and then entered the University of Saskatchewan, Faculty of Arts, and graduated with a B.A. degree in 1927. That same year he married Miss Thelma Radyk, also a school teacher, and shortly afterward they moved to Edmonton, where they resided for the rest of their lives.

In 1931, Lazarowich graduated from the University of Alberta with a degree of L.L.C. and was admitted to the Bar of Alberta on October 15th, 1932. On the same day he left for Europe to take a postgraduate course in Slavonic History and Literature at the Charles University in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He remained there throughout the winter of 1932 and spring 1933 attending both the Charles University and Free Ukrainian University located there. After completing his courses, he travelled widely in Central Europe (Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania and Germany). During this trip he visited Halychyna. Afterwards, he also took a trip to England and Scotland and while there read a paper before the Royal Institute of International Affairs on conditions in Ukraine. Upon returning to Canada in the fall of 1933, he commenced the practice of law and has been practicing law until his retirement.

He was named Queen’s Council in 1948. He was the President of the Edmonton Bar Association and member of the executive of the Edmonton Junior Chamber of Commerce. He was active in the Liberal Party for many years and was a member of the executive of the Edmonton Liberal Association in various capacities. He was one of the Liberal candidates in the City of Edmonton in two Provincial elections.

In addition to those activities, he took an active part in the community life of Edmonton. He was a Chairman of the Edmonton Public Library Board, a President of the Scona Home and School Association, and during the years 1951-1952, he was a President of the Men’s Canadian Club of Edmonton.

In his Ukrainian-Canadian community, he was an influential individual in the Ukrainian Self-Reliance League / Союз Українців Самостійників (USRL/CYC) family organization, and one of the founders of USRL/CYC in 1927. From 1936 to 1940 Peter Lazarowich was the President of USRL/CYC National Executive. In 1958-1963 he was the National President of USRA/TYC (Товариство Українців Самостійників) and SUND (Союз Українських Народних Домів). He was a President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress - Edmonton (UCC), a member of the Order of St. Andrew and St. John’s Institute and a founding member of the Ukrainian Professional Businessmen’s Club of Edmonton.

In his church community he was a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John in Edmonton, legal representative for his cathedral and a member of the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church (UGOC) of Canada Consistory Board from 1954 to 1970, choir conductor and a cathedral delegate at all the Ordinary and Extra-Ordinary Sobors of the UGOC of Canada.

As a result of his contributions to the Ukrainian community he received the following recognitions:
• Honorary member of St. John’s Cathedral
• Shevchenko medal from UCC National
• Honorary Certificate from the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada
• Honorary Certificate from the Ukrainian Self-Reliance League of Canada
• Honorary member of the Ukrainian Professional Businessmen’s Club of Edmonton.

Peter John Lazarowich passed away in Edmonton on May 15, 1983.

Lee, Myeong Jae
Person · born 1976

In September 2001, Myeong Jae Lee went to Kyiv, Ukraine where he taught Korean language at the Kyiv National Linguistic University. He lived in Ukraine from November 2001 to February 2004. In 2005, he graduated with a master of Russian studies degree from the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, Korea. His master's thesis was "The Festival Culture of Eastern Slavs: National Identity and Vitality as a Revival." In 2015, Myeong Jae Lee started his PhD studies at the Department of Information & Archival Science at the same university.

In 2013-2014 academic year, Myeong Jae Lee was the Academic Visitor at the University of Alberta at the Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore. In 2016-2018, he served as the attache at the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Myeong Jae Lee has been always interested in the theme of culture, especially folklore, festival and religion. The coexistence of four kinds of festivals with completely different characteristics was the most striking element that he observed in Ukraine: Christian festivals, traditional festivals, Soviet festivals, and new festivals (after the collapse of the Soviet Union). He began to document the festivals by taking pictures and video, and did so for 27 months while in Ukraine. Myeong Jae Lee lived "according to the local calendar", experienced more than 40 festivals, and found every one of them gorgeous. He was able to see the different dimensions of the Ukrainian culture, and the Eastern Slavs’ culture.

Myeong Jae Lee was also attracted by Ukrainian natural landscape and characteristic local colour. He visited about 30 cities and villages in Ukraine including Uzhhorod, Kharkiv, Yalta, and Bila Tserkva.

Myeong Jae Lee thinks photography is one of the best ways to document something, and that as time passes, the value of photography as a record increases. When he stayed in Ukraine he thought he should record Ukrainian daliy life. These photographs and video films will become valuable records and good representation of Ukraine 100 years from the time they were recorded. He was the author of several photo exhibits in 2003-2014, among them: Two Diaries (Gallery Palitra, Kharikiv, Ukraine), The Festival Chronotope of Eastern Slavs (Sejong Center, Seoul, Korea), The Time on the Way (Artbit Gallery, Seoul, Korea), The Wonderland (SangSangMadang Gallery, Seoul, Korea), The Week of Ukrainian Culture (Wangsan Culture&Art Hall, Yongin, Korea), and Photo & Travel (COEX, Seoul, Korea). He also co-authored two publications: The Wonderland, KT&G SangSangMadang (2010) and Youth, Share, and Time On the Way, Photonet (2008).

Lesiv, Mariya
Person · born 1978

Mariya Lesiv was born in Horodenka, Ivano-Frankivs'k region, Ukraine. Her father is a TV journalist, and her mother is a visual artist who teaches at an art college in Ivano-Frankivs'k. Mariya did her undergraduate studies at the Lviv National Academy of Arts, and graduated with a specialist degree in Fine, Applied and Decorative Arts in 2001. In 2001-2003, she did her post-graduate studies in History and Theory of Art, at the Lviv National Academy of Arts.

Mariya came to the University of Alberta to study Ukrainian folklore in 2003 where she received her MA (2005) and PhD (2011). Her doctoral dissertation is devoted to Ukrainian Paganism, a new religious and political movement that strives to revive old rural folklore while creating an alternative vision of a present-day Ukrainian nation in both Ukraine and the diaspora.

Mariya worked for the Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore, University of Alberta, where she taught and was actively engaged in fieldwork and publication projects dealing with various aspects of Ukrainian diaspora culture. She married Brian Anthony Cherwick in 2008.

Mariya received a job as an assistant professor of folklore at the Memorial University, Newfoundland in 2011, and moved to St. John's with her family. Her research interests include diaspora studies; folklore and national/ethnic identity building; material culture; folk religion; new religious movements; ritual, belief, and spiritual culture; as well as modern Paganisms (Western and East European). Her first book The Return of Ancestral Gods: Modern Ukrainian Paganism As an Alernative Vision for a Nation was published by McGill-Queen's University Press in 2013.

Mariya's new research project focuses on new diaspora communities established by recent immigrants to Newfoundland from the former Socialist block.

Lopata, Pavlo
Person · born 1945

Pavlo Lopata was born in the village of Kaliniv [Pryashiv region], Slovak Republic on March 20, 1945. He studied at the University of Fine Arts in Bratislava from 1966-1968. In 1969 he emigrated to Canada and resided in Toronto. He obtained a Commercial Arts Diploma from George Brown College [1972] and a Fine Arts Diploma from the Ontario College of Art [1986]. From 1991 to 1998 he was curator and executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation. During this period he organized over 70 exhibits of many different artists from Canada, USA and Ukraine. To create art, Pavlo uses pencil, egg tempera, acrylics and oils. Themes of his works include portraits, wooden churches, icons, linear expressionism and surrealistic symbolism. He is also the author of over 350 articles related to the arts, culture and history, published in periodicals, journals and newspapers.

Over 1,000 of Pavlo Lopata's artistic works can be found in private and museum collections in Canada, USA, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Ukraine. He has held 29 solo exhibits and participated in over 80 group shows. Pavlo now lives and works in his private studio in a Ukrainian community "Poltawa" in Terra Cotta, located northwest of Toronto.

Luchkovich, Michael
Person · 1892-1973

Michael Luchkovich was born on November 13, 1892, in the mining town of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, USA. His father Ephraim and mother Maria migrated from the Lemko region of Ukraine to the USA in 1887. Unlike an older sister (he had three in all and one brother), he grew up with poor knowledge of Ukrainian until after his move to Canada in 1907. In the Autumn of that year, he enrolled in courses at Manitoba college, an affiliate at the University of Manitoba, as a grade 11 student. Later, he obtained a degree in political sciences at that university and in the process met with other 'firsts' in Canadian Ukrainian history: Jaroslaw William Arsenych, the first Ukrainian lawyer and judge; Orest Zerebko, the first Ukrainian Bachelor of Arts; Fred Hawryluk, the first Inspector of Schools; and Gregory Novak, the first Ukrainian doctor.

In 1917 he received a First Class Teacher's diploma from the Calgary Normal School and taught in districts heavily populated by Ukrainians in East-Central Alerta. In 1926 he was nominated as the United Farmers of Alberta candidate for the Vegreville federal riding and was elected by a substantial majority on September 14. He served two terms in Parliament (1926-1935) and joined the coterie of 'firsts' by becoming Canada's first federal MP of Ukrainian origin. The highlight of his parliamentary career came when he was appointed the only Canadian (and British) delegate to the Inter-Parliamentary Congress in Bucharest in 1931. After his tenure in office, Luchkovich, who had begun learning Ukrainian by keeping a nite-nook of Ukrainian phrases and idioms, had mastered the language well enough to be able to turn his attention to translating. In this regard. he is best remembered for his translation of Illia Kiriak's classic novel "Sons of the Soil." Having settled down in Edmonton, Luchkovich remained very active in local Ukrainian community affairs. A firm believer in multiculturalism, he helped prepare a brief on behalf of the Edmonton Branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee to the Commission of Bilingualism and Biculturalism in 1964. In 1965, he wrote his biography "A Ukrainian Canadian in Parliament: Memoirs of Michael Luchkovich" (Toronto: Ukrainian Canadian Research Foundation, 1965). Mr. Luchkovich died on April 21, 1973, and was survived by his wife Sophie (nee Nikiforuk), two sons, Myron Lusk and Denis, and a daughter Mrs. Carol Brown.

The biography is written by Serge Cipko:
Cipko, Serge. Michael Luchkovich Collection (Research Report N 49). Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, University of Alberta,1992.

Lupul, Manoly
Person · 1927-2019

Lupul, Manoly (14 August, 1927 in Willingdon, Alberta - 24 July, 2019 in Calgary). Historian, educator, and community leader. A graduate of the University of Alberta, the University of Minnesota, and Harvard University (PH D, 1963), he taught educational foundations and Canadian educational history at the University of Alberta from 1958. He became a leading figure in the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation and played a major role in the establishment of the Ukrainian-English bilingual program in Alberta schools (1974) and the creation of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS). The Institute's first director (1976–86). He also was prairie regional chairperson and national vice-chairperson of the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism (1973–9) and a key member and first chairperson (1982–3) of the Ukrainian Community Development Committee.
(Source: Danylo Husar Struk. “Lupul, Manoly.” Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CL%5CU%5CLupulManoly.htm)

Lysko, Zenowij
Person · 1895-1969

Composer and scholar Zenowij Lysko (b. 1895, Rakobuty, Ukraine, d. 1969, New York, USA) laid the foundations of Ukrainian musicology in the United States. Born into a priestly family, he studied philosophy at Lviv University and piano and theory with Stanyslav Liudkevych at the Lysenko Music Institute. Drafted into the Austrian army during World War I, he joined the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen following the war. He continued his studies at the Lviv Underground Ukrainian University and the Lysenko Institute, as well as studying composition privately with Vasyl Barvinsky. He later enrolled in Charles University in Prague, where he also studied privately with Fedir Akimenko. During this period he became interested in folklore and ethnomusicology. He taught music at the Drahomanov Ukrainian Pedagogical Institute in Prague (1924-29), graduated from the State Conservatory of Czechoslovakia in 1927 and obtained his doctorate from the Ukrainian Free University in Prague in 1928. He taught at the Kharkiv Conservatory, the Stryi Branch of the Lysenko Higher Institute of Music, the Lviv Conservatory and was editor-in-chief of the journal Ukraïns'ka muzyka. After the Second World War he lived in Germany, before settling in New York in 1960, where he taught at the Ukrainian Music Institute from 1961 until his death.

As a composer, he was most active during his Prague period, completing an orchestral suite, string quartet, piano sonata, song cycles and arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs. As a scholar, he collected 1,400 Ukrainian folk songs, which were published in ten volumes. He also amassed a substantial archive.

Margel, Joan
Person · 1932-

Joan Margel, a Canadian folklore collector, educator, volunteer, and community activist, has dedicated her life to preserving cultural heritage, promoting education, and positively impacting her community. Born Joan Bayers in 1932 in the Prestville area east of Rycroft, Alberta, she has deep roots in Kulivtsi and Verenchanka in Bukovyna, Ukraine. Her ancestors, the Rudeichuk, Kushneryk, and Bayers families, made their journey from that region to Canada in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. With immense pride, Joan refers to herself as the proud granddaughter of the pioneering homesteaders who opened up the Peace River country in the mid-1920s, playing a crucial role in establishing a new province.
Joan's early years were marked by personal loss when her father, John Bayers, a Bukovynian German, tragically passed away from pneumonia when she was only two and a half years old. Her mother, later marrying Jack Sandul, relocated the family to Jack's Yellow Creek homestead. In 1942, they moved to the Village of Rycroft, where Jack Sandul was involved in the trucking business, contributing to the construction of the Alaska Highway through his company, "Sandul's Transport."
Joan's passion for education and her commitment to learning began early in life. After attending Naramata Bible School in 1950 and graduating, she enrolled in the one-year teaching course at the University of Alberta in 1951. Joan began her first teaching position in 1952 at the age of 19 at the one-room Blueberry Mountain School in the Peace River Country. This small school, located ten kilometres from her childhood home, presented unique challenges. Joan taught students of all grades, ranging from 1 to 7, living in the back room of the school without running water and environmental hardships.
Joan wrote to the Ministry of Education requesting a teaching position in Ontario. Her request was granted, and in 1953, at the age of 20, she began teaching grade 2 at John McCrae Elementary School in Windsor, Ontario, till 1957, when her first son Donald was born. During this time, she met her future husband, Joseph (Joe) Margel, a former refugee from the Hungarian socialistic regime. He left the country after WWII in 1946 and came to Canada shortly after. In August 1956, Joan and Joseph married in Rycroft and returned to Windsor. After having two sons and ten years living in Windsor, the Margel family returned to Rycroft, where they started a small but successful T.V. business. During this time, Joan continued to pursue her passion for teaching, dedicating a year to teaching grade 2. Two daughters were born there.
In 1967, the Margel family made another move, settling in Edmonton, Alberta. Joan and Joseph pursued their studies at the University of Alberta full-time from 1967 to 1968. In the fall of 1968, Joan returned to the field after a 12-year hiatus from the teaching profession, joining Afton Elementary School. Joseph got a job teaching High school electronics. They both got teaching jobs while still completing their 4-year education degrees. Joan graduated in 1971, and Joseph in May 1973 or 1974. In 1981, Joan furthered her educational pursuits by attending the University of Alberta's Elementary Library Education program. She then embarked on a remarkable journey, teaching as a Multicultural Library teacher at both Princeton Elementary School and Norwood Elementary School for a year (1982-1983). Her dedication to fostering cultural diversity continued as she taught full-time at Norwood for two more years (1983-1985). Joan's expertise led her to Glenrose Hospital School in 1985, where she served as a Teacher Librarian until her well-deserved retirement in December 1986.
Retirement didn't slow Joan Margel's fervour for collecting folklore and oral history narratives. In the 1990s, she immersed herself in gathering stories of the Rycroft area and her family. Inspired by the teachings of Dr. Andriy Nahachewsky and Radomir Bilash on Ukrainian culture and folklore at the University of Alberta, Joan expanded her knowledge of fieldwork methods, interview indexing, storytelling skills, and archiving communication. Volunteering at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village open-air museum and contributing to the Local Culture and Diversity on the Prairies project, she played an instrumental role in preserving and celebrating cultural heritage. Joan Margel's unwavering commitment to community involvement extended beyond her teaching career.
Active in numerous projects from 1990 to 2010, she contributed her time and expertise to initiatives such as the Alberta Women's Memory Project, Northern Alberta Women's Archival Association, Alberta Genealogical Society, Federation of East European Family History Societies, Ukrainian Pioneers Association of Alberta, Treaty 8 Centennial Commemoration, and various ecological and mental health projects. Furthermore, Joan showcased her musical talents by participating in the Ukrainian Choir Dnipro and spearheading the Edmonton chapter of the Raging Grannies after hearing about the Vancouver group. In 2022, Joan Margel continued to reside in Edmonton, Alberta, using her professional experience to inspire and enlighten others through presentations like "Leave a Verbal Legacy."