OBITUARIES

Alexander B. Chernyk, 61, physician, community leader

by Dr. Albert Kipa

PHILADELPHIA - Dr. Alexander Bohdan Chernyk, 61, physician and surgeon, died on, January 23 at Montgomery Hospital Medical Center in Norristown, Pa.

He was the husband of Dr. Zenia A. (Filinski) Chernyk and lived in Schwenksville, Pa. A native of Lviv who came to the United States after World War II and settled in Philadelphia, he graduated from LaSalle College in 1961 and earned a doctorate in medicine from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) in 1965, as well as a master's degree in surgery in 1969.

In private practice in general surgery in Philadelphia since 1969, Dr. Chernyk also served as director of medical education of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine from 1969 to 1971 and as professor of surgery from 1969 until illness forced his retirement a few years ago. From 1976 to 1979 Dr. Chernyk headed the division of general surgery at Suburban General Hospital in Norristown, Pa., and from 1981 to 1983 its department of surgery. He had also been chairman of staff and a member of the board of directors of the hospital in 1978 and 1979. He was also a member of the faculty of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine from 1981 to 1985.

Dr. Chernyk authored several manuals devoted to such topics as surgery, intern training, emergency room rules and regulations, and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Between 1969 and 1993 he delivered 72 lectures on various medical and surgical topics. He received the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Student Council of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, respectively in 1983 and 1985. The Ukrainian Medical Association of North America (UMANA) honored him twice, in 1982 and 1991, with its Distinguished Community Service Award. He had served as president of the UMANA Pennsylvania branch from 1976 to 1982.

Dr. Chernyk had also been a member of the American Osteopathic Association, the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons, the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medical Association, the Montgomery County Osteopathic Association, the International Society of Gastrointestinal Surgeons and the Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery.

Dr. Chernyk was also a distinguished Ukrainian American community and civic leader. He was a member of the Republican Club of Philadelphia, co-founder and the first president (1980-1990) of the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center of Philadelphia (UECC) and of the Ukrainian Federation of Greater Philadelphia (since 1990).

In the latter capacity he was instrumental in arranging the highly effective Ukrainian-Jewish dialogues with the American Jewish Committee's Philadelphia Chapter to foster better understanding between Ukrainians and Jews both here and independent Ukraine.

He also established the Ukrainian American Social Services at the UECC and co-founded the Ukrainian Senior Citizens Association as well as the Ukrainian Professional Society. He served as pesident of the Philadelphia Branch of Plast, the Ukrainian scouting organization, and as a member of the advisory board of Manor Junior College and the board of directors of the Nationalities Services Center of Philadelphia (1991-1993).

Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, Dr. Chernyk worked closely with officials and diplomats of the new government as well as of the U.S. to strengthen U.S.-Ukrainian relations and to ensure a future for democracy in the country of his birth.

Dr. Chernyk was also actively involved in several charitable and medical relief projects as a member of Rotary International, Central Perkiomen Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Chornobyl Relief Fund, and the Lesniuk Foundation and Charitable Trust.

Survivors include his wife; two sons, Oleh and Ihor; a daughter, Marta; and a sister, Christine Rynasewych.

Panakhyda services were held on January 29 at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The requiem liturgy was offered at the cathedral on January 30, followed by burial services at St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Fox Chase, Pa.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Ukrainian Federation, the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center, or Plast.

Myroslav Turiansky, chess master

by Dr. Orest Popovych

HOWELL, N.J. - A Chicago resident since 1950, Myroslav Turiansky did not revisit his native Ukraine until late in 1998, soon after the death of his wife, Roma. It was during that first and last visit to Ukraine that he passed away on December 28, 1998, in the town of Radekhiv, Lviv region, and was laid to rest not far from the place where he was born.

Mr. Turiansky was born October 10, 1912, near Rudky in the Lviv region, the son of Osyp Turiansky, a renowned literary figure, and Stefa Turiansky née Onyshkevych. When he was 11, his father taught him how to play chess, a development that shaped much of his adult life and determined the legacy he left behind. Although he had received a master's degree in law at Lviv University, it was not in jurisprudence, but in chess that he left his mark, where his excellence and contributions will be remembered.

Mr. Turiansky's early chess career was closely intertwined with the organization and development of Ukrainian chess in Lviv and Halychyna in the 1920s. In 1926 Ukrainians in Lviv founded a club named Shakhovyi Konyk (Chess Knight), later renamed the Society of Ukrainian Chess Players (TUSh), which during World War II became a division of the sports club Ukraina. In the 1926-1944 period, these clubs brought together the top names of Ukrainian chess in Lviv, such as Popel, Turiansky, Turkevych, Shevchyk, Onyshchuk and M. Romanyshyn (the father of today's grandmaster Oleh Romanyshyn). Among them, Mr. Turiansky was always one of the best. He won the championship of the Shakhovyi Konyk in 1928 and tied for first and second places with Stepan Popel in the Championship of Western Ukraine in Lviv in 1943.

The quality that distinguished Mr. Turiansky from other chess masters early on and throughout his life was his readiness to volunteer his services for the benefit of organized Ukrainian chess. He served as secretary and librarian of the chess society until World War II and then, during the German occupation of Lviv, headed the chess division of the Ukraina sports club. Mr. Turiansky promoted chess throughout Halychyna by staging simultaneous exhibitions, sometimes jointly with Stepan Popel.

Joining the westward exodus in 1944, Mr. Turiansky wound up in Vienna, where in the years 1946-1947 he became one of the premier players of the Austrian capital and champion of the Hitzing chess club there. In 1948 he emigrated to New York City, where he became active in the famous Marshall Chess Club and in the 1949-1950 season placed second in its club championship, ceding first place to grandmaster Larry Evans, then U.S. champion. Here again his desire to serve organized Ukrainian chess came to the fore. Although among the Ukrainian immigrants in New York at that time there was no one who could even remotely challenge Mr. Turiansky at chess, he proceeded to organize a chess club in New York City, in the Ukrainian downtown, naming it Shakhovyi Konyk, reflecting after the Lviv club by that name, where he had launched his own chess career in the 1920s. During 1948-1950, under Mr. Turiansky's leadership, Shakhovyi Konyk attracted about 30 Ukrainian chess players from among the new immigrants.

He moved to Chicago in 1950 and once again, true to form, offered his organizational skills to a Ukrainian club, this time the Levy (Lions) sports club. There he established a chess club and captained a chess team that competed successfully in the Metropolitan Chicago League for about two decades. He cooperated closely with the Ukrainian Sports Federation of the U.S.A. and Canada (USCAK), volunteering to host at the Levy club the first USCAK Championship of Ukrainians in North America in 1966. That year Mr. Turiansky finished third, but in subsequent USCAK championships he became twice runner up and in 1982 won the Ukrainian Championship of the U.S and Canada.

The deceased also delved into mainstream chess life in the Midwest. Twice, in 1953 and 1954, he won the Chicago city championship, and several times conquered top prizes in the state championships of Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. In the 1953 U.S. Open in Milwaukee Mr. Turiansky finished 10th. The U. S. Chess Federation awarded him the title of chess master.

On a personal level, I remember the deceased with feelings of warmth and gratitude. In 1949, when I was a rank beginner in chess, the maestro agreed to give me a try-out and then personally took me to the Marshall Chess Club, enrolling me there as a member, which launched my own chess career. Mr. Turiansky presented me with a chess book and pointers on theory. Years later, when I achieved the master rank, Mr. Turiansky became my fan, avidly following my progress, rejoicing in my successes. There was in him none of that bitter rivalry, envy and ill will that so often infects relationships between strong players. He rooted for me even when it didn't serve his own chances. The ultimate example of Mr. Turiansky's attitude was displayed in the 1967 USCAK tournament when, after losing to me, he made a special effort to beat my rival so that I would be assured of winning the Ukrainian championship.

In Kyiv a book has just been published about distinguished chess players of the Ukrainian diaspora. Of course, one chapter in it is devoted to the career and the games played by Mr. Turiansky. How ironic that he missed by only a few days the chance to see his name immortalized there. He also never got to read the articles published about him in November 1998 in the newspapers Chas/Time (Kyiv) and Krymska Svitlytsya (Symferopol). Nevertheless, these publications do ensure that Myroslav Turiansky's memory shall live forever - as that of an outstanding chess master, a tireless organizer of Ukrainian chess and, for me, a friend and a true gentleman.

Maria Sokil Rudnytsky, 96, renowned lyric soprano

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Maria Sokil Rudnytsky, renowned lyric soprano and opera singer, died on January 20 at the age of 96.

Mrs. Rudnytsky was born in Zherebets, Zaporizhia Oblast, in Ukraine. She studied with Zinaida Malyutina at the Conservatory of Music in Dnipropetrovsk in 1920-1925. She also appeared as a leading singer-actress with the Zankovetska Theater in Dnipropetrovsk around this time.

Mrs. Rudnytsky made her debut at the State Opera in Kharkiv in 1927 in the role of Marguerice in Gounod's opera "Faust" and after three months became the prima donna lyric soprano of that opera theater. She was in Kharkiv until 1930; subsequently, she was with the State Opera in Kyiv (1930-1932) and with the Lviv Opera (1932-1934).

In 1929, Mrs. Rudnytsky was sent, along with bass Ivan Patorzhynsky, as a representative singer from Ukraine on a concert tour to Germany and Italy. This was followed by guest appearances in Moscow and Leningrad, and also in Warsaw, Kaunas, Riga, Vienna, Prague and Berlin in 1934-1937.

In addition to the aforementioned role of Marguerite in "Faust," Mrs. Rudnytsky appeared in the roles of Desdemona (Verdi's "Otello"), Mimi (Puccini's "La Boheme"), Liu (Puccini's "Turandot"), Elsa (Wagner's "Lohengrin"), Tatiana (Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin"), Lisa (Tchaikovsky's "Pique Dame"), Odarka (Hulak-Artemovsky's "Zaporozhets za Dunayem"), and Natalka (Lysenko's "Natalka Poltavka"). She had particular success with the role of Halka in Moniuszko's opera of the same name.

In 1937, she came to the United States for her first concert tour here, together with her husband, composer and conductor Antin Rudnytsky, whom she married in 1931. Proceeds from this tour benefited the Ukrainian hospital in Lviv. In 1938 she and her husband came to the U.S. and Canada for the second time and from that time remained in the U.S.

That same year Mrs. Rudnytsky had the lead role in the motion picture "Zaporozhets za Dunayem," made in the U.S.

After she settled in the U.S., Mrs. Rudnytsky performed with the Lyric Opera in Chicago, La Scala Opera in Philadelphia and Detroit Opera Company, and appeared with the NBC Orchestra in New York. She was a soloist with the Cosmopolitan Stars of Opera in the 1940s and performed in over 100 concerts in the U.S. and Canada from 1937 to 1944.

Mrs. Rudnytsky also interpreted songs of contemporary Ukrainian composers in her recitals, many of which were especially written for her. She particular specialized in songs by her husband.

In 1940 she recorded albums, singing eight Ukrainian folk songs arranged by Antin Rudnytsky for Asch Records, two arias from Moniuszko's "Halka," and songs by Rachmaninoff and Taneyev.

Mrs. Rudnytsky was professor of voice at the Lysenko Music Institute in 1932-1934 and, later, in the mid-1950s, was professor at the Philadelphia Musical Academy and from 1958 at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. From 1943 to 1975 she and her husband also operated the Ocean County School of Music in Toms River, N.J., where she made her home until moving to Youngstown, Ohio, in 1995.

Her final public concert was in Philadelphia in 1958.

Throughout her life Mrs. Rudnytsky took an active interest in and was a patron of Ukrainian culture and music both in the diaspora and in Ukraine. She was honored in 1992 by the National Opera in Kyiv as their oldest former prima donna soloist. On the occasion of that visit, she promoted the works of her husband and was instrumental in interesting the National Opera to stage her husband's opera "Anna Yaroslavna" in Kyiv. This received its Ukrainian premiere performance on December 16, 1995, in her presence and that of her family, and had many subsequent performances.

Mrs. Rudnytsky in recent years was very concerned with events in Ukraine and established a fund to assist in the national reawakening there.

Burial was on January 23 at St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery in South Bound Brook, N.J., where Mrs. Rudnytsky was laid to rest next to her husband.

She is survived by her two sons, Roman, with his wife, Suzanne, and children, Oksana and Damian; and Dorian, with his wife, Brigitte, and children, Tara and Evan.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 7, 1999, No. 6, Vol. LXVII

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