OBITUARY: Yaroslava Szafraniuk, art patron and community activist (09/22/96)

OBITUARY: Yaroslava Szafraniuk, art patron and community activist

TORONTO - Yaroslava Szafraniuk, née Zavadovych, co-founder of one of the Ukrainian diaspora's most successful art galleries and a longtime supporter of a number of the community's umbrella organizations, died in Toronto on August 18. She was 91.

Born in Ternopil, western Ukraine, on January 26, 1905, Mrs. Szafraniuk worked in the Ukrainian cooperative movement after completing her secondary education.

Together with her husband, Mykhailo, whom she married in 1937, Mrs. Szafraniuk emigrated to Austria in 1944, then to Argentina in 1949, finally settling in Canada in 1952, where they established a successful furniture business, among other ventures.

In 1975, together with her husband, she co-founded the Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation (UCAF) in Toronto, by donating the premises and a rich collection of works by Ukrainian artists.

According to Dr. Mykhailo Marunchak's study "The Ukrainian Canadians," among the central aims of the foundation they established was to enhance and safeguard Ukrainian art and culture in Canada, and in so doing to collect and exhibit the finest examples of art created by Ukrainians.

Since its inception 21 years ago, Mrs. Szafraniuk played host to over 200 exhibitions at the UCAF gallery, which has become unofficially known as "the Szafraniuk gallery."

In part thanks to her efforts, the collection includes works by Jacques Hnizdovsky, Edward Kozak, Hryhoriy Kruk, Mykola Krychevsky, William Kurelek, Sophia Lada, Myron Levytsky, Volodymyr Makarenko, Halyna Mazepa, Liubomyr Medvid, Lev Molodozhanyn (Leo Mol), Volodymyr Patyk, Anton Solohub, Ivan Trush and Marco Zubar, covering a wide range of media and styles.

Through Mr. and Mrs. Szafraniuk's generous donation of space in their building, the headquarters of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians (now the Ukrainian World Congress, UWC) have been housed on the same premises as the UCAF gallery since the autumn of 1975, with both institutions moving to their present location in 1978.

In a similar arrangement, the offices of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress's Toronto Branch have been located there since 1985, and the UCC's Ontario Provincial Council moved in two years later.

In commemoration of the millennium of Ukrainian Christianity in 1988, Mrs. Szafraniuk commissioned a bronze likeness of St. Volodymyr by Leo Mol, which now stands before the St. Vladimir Institute in downtown Toronto.

In 1991, Mrs. Szafraniuk earmarked a significant donation for the University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy for the establishment of the nascent institution's extensive computer system. The Ternopil-born patron also provided funds for various scholarships for students and scholars in Ukraine and in North America.

The Ukrainian Consulate General in Toronto opened in April 1993, thanks in large part to a donation of premises for that purpose by Mrs. Szafraniuk, also in the UCAF building.

In 1995, on the occasion of Mrs. Szafraniuk's 90th birthday, she was awarded the President's Medal by Ukraine's chief executive, Leonid Kuchma, for her service to Ukraine.

The following January, the UWC Secretariat recognized Mrs. Szafraniuk's service to Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora with its highest honor, the St. Volodymyr Medal, which was presented to her by UWC President Dmytro Cipywnyk.

Mrs. Szafraniuk also was a major patron of the Ukrainian Canadian Care Center, and became one of its first residents in the fall of 1995.

Funeral services were conducted on August 22 at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, with interment following at Prospect Cemetery in Toronto.

Mrs. Szafraniuk is survived by her nephew Roman Wrzesnewskyj, his wife, Irena, their children, Ruslana and Borys; as well as nephew Bohuslav Wrzesnewskyj and children, Markian and Adriana.