Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
- Marusia Savedchuk
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Marusia Spolsky was born in 1947 in Germany, where her parents were living in a Displaced Persons camp in Neu Ulm. She came to Canada as an infant and grew up in Winnipeg, where she briefly attended the University of Manitoba before moving to Toronto.
Yuri Spolsky was born in 1941 in Lviv and came to Canada (Toronto) in 1948 after living in Landeck, Austria for three years in a Displaced Person camp. Yuri earned a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto and in 1960 joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he was a fighter pilot for nine years.
Marusia and Yuri were both active members of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Association during their childhood, youth and early adulthood and attended Ukrainian Heritage Language schools while growing up. They married in 1970 and made their home in Toronto, with the exception of three years spent in Vancouver (1971 – 1973), where they produced the Ukrainian radio program Fantasia, with Marusia as the on air announcer, while Yuri concentrated on research and technical support. In Vancouver Yuri was also president of the local Ukrainian Canadian Committee for one year. Once back in Toronto, they were blessed with three children: Laryssa,
Motria, and Danylo. Marusia had a successful real estate career spanning 27 years, while Jurij spent 20 years working for the Toronto Transit Commission in land development. Their community engagement continued in Toronto: Jurij served 10 years on the audit committee of the Ukrainian Canadian Social Services Committee, while Marusia played the role of Titka Kvitka in the children’s television program U Titky Kvitky for five years in the 1980’s.
This text was prepared by Lesia Savedchuk, Marusia Spolsky's immediate sister.