bohdan budurowycz (1921-2007)

Canadian Slavonic Papers

Bohdan Budurowycz (1921-2007)Author(s): Thomas M. PrymakSource: Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes, Vol. 49, No. 1/2 (March-June 2007), pp. 5-7Published by: Canadian Association of SlavistsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40871160 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 20:59

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Canadian Association of Slavists and Canadian Slavonic Papers are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend access to Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 62.122.72.154 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:59:15 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=canassocslav

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40871160?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


In Memoriam

Bohdan Budurowycz (1921-2007)

On March 8, 2007, Bohdan Budurowycz, Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto, quietly passed away at Runnymede Hospital in west-end Toronto. He was eighty-six years of age (born September 8, 1921) and is survived by his beloved wife of many years Jean (Strazdaz).

I first heard of Professor Budurowycz when I was a graduate student in the Department of History at the University of Toronto in the late 1970s. I was told something about him by my fellow students from the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures with whom I attended some language classes. I remember, in particular, one female student of Yugoslav background, who spoke to me in glowing terms about Professor Budurowycz' s course in ancient and medieval Slavic civilization and urged me to take it if I should have the opportunity. Unfortunately, this opportunity never arose, but I soon acquired an interest in this Ukrainian professor whose classes were so popular and about whom I only heard good things. Eventually I was privileged to meet him and he sat on my PhD thesis examination committee.

Professor Budurowycz was very professional and a stickler for details. He was very careful about spelling, translation, transliteration from the Slavic languages, grammar, and minor points of detail. These were excellent characteristics for a reader of manuscripts being prepared for publication and over the years, more and more, I turned to Professor Budurowycz to read my manuscripts before I submitted them to a publisher.

As to his own publications, two particularly stand out. First, there is his early book on Polish-Soviet Relations 1932-1939 ( 1 963). Second, there is his later book on Slavic and East European Resources in Canadian Academic and Research Libraries (1976). This latter volume, a survey of literally dozens of libraries and hundreds of books, played an important role in Professor Budurowycz' s life, for to

Canadian Slavonic Papers/Revue canadienne des slavistes Vol. XLIX, No. 1-2, March-June 2007



6 In Memoríam

write it, he had to travel extensively across Canada visiting all of the major universities and provinces to survey their libraries. This was a big job for a man who did not like flying or driving and had to take the train right across the country. But he did it, often meeting important scholars and Ukrainian cultural activists along the way. The final product of all these travels and all these meetings was a book that is now a classic in Canadian library studies.

Indeed, despite the popularity of his courses, Professor Budurowycz was by character and taste much more a librarian than a teacher. He loved going through books and manuscripts, describing them, and recommending them. After graduating from Columbia, he actually worked for a time as a librarian at the old humanities library at the University of Toronto. But eventually, he heeded the call of duty, and accepted a professorship in the Slavic Department. He remained at the U of T until his retirement at the end of the 1980s.

Although Professor Budurowycz was a quiet, even timid man, he turned truly bold and expressive when he was lecturing. I remember a lecture he once gave at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies at the U of T. It was, I believe, in early 1983. International tensions were high because of the Solidarity Crisis in Poland and the recent military crackdown there. We gathered one evening for the lecture in the Upper Library of Massey College. The subject was the hot topic of "Poland and the Ukrainian Problem, 1921-1939." The room was packed with students, professors, and prominent members of the Ukrainian and Polish communities who did not always get along. The crowd was hushed and tense with anticipation as Professor Budurowycz began. He spoke in a lively, direct manner, taking a moderate position on the intense Ukrainian-Polish conflict of that time, evenly balancing the most difficult problems and looking at them from different angles. He concluded by saying that the whole Ukrainian-Polish conflict of those days benefited no one but the Russian chauvinists who wished to annex "Galicia," as western Ukraine was then called, to the Soviet Union or to Russia. The tension was immediately relieved. The audience, Ukrainians, Poles, almost everyone, burst out in loud and sustained applause. I still remember the stunned look on the faces of Professor H. Gordon Skilling, the founder of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, and Mr. Benedykt Heydenkorn, the prominent Polish journalist, as they tried to take in what Professor Budurowycz had said and why the crowd had reacted so strongly.

Professor Budurowycz was a specialist in Polish-Ukrainian relations. But he was also very well versed in Ukrainian and Polish literature in general, Slavic bibliography, the ancient and medieval Slavs, the history of the Second World War, Church history, the Christian calendars both East and West, the Slavs in Canada, and many other subjects. He was also an expert Latinist, and on occasion, would translate Latin documents for his "Slavist" colleagues whose knowledge of this language was less expert than his own.

Professor Budurowycz was a religious man, but he never imposed his religious views on others. He was a member of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of



In Memoriam 7

Canada, Saint Nicholas Parish, in downtown Toronto. But he married a Roman Catholic and always respected both rites. He was a loyal Catholic but retained a respect for all other faiths, including non-Christian ones like Islam. Somehow, he always managed to balance the local and the ecumenical in his general outlook.

Bohdan Budurowycz was a quiet, mild-mannered man who tried to get along with everyone. He was liked and well respected by his colleagues, admired by his students, and cherished by his friends. For me, he was an esteemed mentor, valued colleague, and dear friend. He will be greatly missed.

Thomas M. Prymak, University of Toronto

Canadian Slavonic Papers/Revue canadienne des slavistes Vol. XLIX, No. 1-2, March-June 2007



bohdan budurowycz (1921-2007)

Documents