З газети «Гомін України»
Бл. П. Д-Р Роман-Маркіян Цурковський 15. 01. 1917 — 01. 01. 2007
Визначний лікар-ортопед, меценат і громадський діяч в Торонті (Канада). Народився 15 січня 1917 року в Україні (с. Тур’я Велика на Івано-Франківщині) у священичій родині о. Маріяна та Анни Цурковських. Середню школу закінчив 1936 року у Стрию. На медичні студії переїхав до Ґрацу (Австрія), закінчив їх у 1942 році. Відбував практику (1942-45) у «шпиталі екстремальних випадків» (Unfallskankenhaus) у Ґрацу, спеціялізуючись в ортопедії. Як учасник військових з’єднань дружин українських націоналістів у 1941 році був лікарем похідних груп ОУН, скерованих на Україну. Покликаний 1945 року до Української дивізії «Галичина», був інтернований у Ріміні (Італія). В полоні працював головним лікарем українського відділу шпиталю Цесеналіко, опісля — табірним лікарем. Після переїзду дивізії «Галичина» до Англії, д-р Цурковський знову працював як таборовий лікар українських вояків. До Канади переїхав 1951 року. Відбув шпитальну практику у «Сивік» шпиталі в Оттаві. Пізніше працював у шпиталях «Ст. Джозеф» і «Санібрук» в Торонті. Одержав право на лікарську практику 1953 року. У 1955 році склав іспити зі спеціялізації в ортопедичній хірургії. Як лікар-ортопед працював у шпиталях Торонта. Довголітній шеф ортопедичного відділу «Докторс» шпиталю. Автор чисельних доповідів на ортопедичні теми. Активно включився в українське громадське життя. Співзасновник Українського Лікарського Товариства (УЛТ) в Торонті. Неодноразово був головою УЛТ. Ініціятор створення Українсько-канадського медичного товариства, як добродійної установи.
Д-р Р. Цурковський був щедрим меценатом на громадські і наукові цілі. В 1987 році створив Фундація ім. о. Маріяна і д-р Романа Цурковських на підтримку культурних, наукових і релігійних проєктів при університетах в Канаді — Торонто, Йорк, Альберта — і в Україні — Український Католицький Університет, Києво-Могилянська Академія, Львівська Академія Мистецтв. Щиро жертвував на різні стипендії для студентів. Також фінансово підтримував проєкт інтернетної версії Української енциклопедії. Часто анонімно дарував на українські потреби та на публікацію українських видань. Фундація тепер продовжує добродійну діяльність д-р Цурковського, підтримує його проєкти і реалізує свої власні.
В останніх роках свого життя д-р Р. Цурковський подорожував в Україну, а найчастіше до свого улюбленого міста Львова, де зі своєю дружиною Христею мали другу резиденцію і де вели дуже цікаве життя у культурному середовищі міста.
Бл. п. д-р Роман Цурковський залишив у глибокому смутку: дружину Христю з її дітьми: сином Богданом Стоділкою з дружиною Стефанією, дочкою Данею Стоділкою, та дітей від першого подружжя з їхніми родинами: зятя Володимира Ляльку (чоловіка бл. п. дочки Мар’яни) з дітьми Наталею і Олесем, сина Адріяна з дружиною Шерил, сина Юрія, дочку Мирославу з дітьми Василем і Надією та дочку Роксоляну з чоловіком Адріяном Ружицьким і дітьми Лукою, Максимом, Антонієм і Микитою.
Про кончину бл. п. д-р Романа Цурковського ректор УКУ у Львові о. Борис Ґудзяк сказав: «Без сумніву, що саме Боже Провидіння попровадило бл. п. Романа провести останні дні свого земного життя в Україні».
Вічна йому пам’ять!
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Dr. Roman Marian Curkowskyj
January 15, 1917 – January 1, 2007
Roman Marian Curkowskyj was born January 15, 1917 in Galicia, Ukraine. He was the eldest son of Anna (Gera) and the Rev. Marian Roman Curkowskyj. Roman had the privilege of being Christened by Metropolitan Andryj Sheptytsky in Lviv, Ukraine. He was the eldest brother of five children: Marian, Adrian, Vera (Zobniw) and Nadia (Mostovych). Roman and his siblings were raised at home speaking native Ukrainian, as well as Polish, Greek, Latin and German. He graduated from high school in Stryj, Galicia in 1936, and was active in the Ukrainian youth organization “Plast” and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Roman studied Medicine in Graz, Austria, where he was active with the Ukrainian University Club and with many international students. Although he experienced financial struggles as a foreign student, Roman looked upon his years in Graz as his most memorable and character-building. He worked as a blacksmith by night to pay for his tuition before earning a medical scholarship. After completing General Medicine in 1942, he spent his next four years operating war-related injuries in accident hospitals in Graz and in Vienna as a resident in Orthopaedic and Traumatic Surgery. In 1945 he was drafted to join the German Army as a medic, but persuaded the Germans to redirect him to the Division “Galicia” to fight the Soviet Red Army and liberate his homeland. During this period, Galicia was invaded and occupied by the Red Army. Roman’s family was displaced. His mother died, and his brother Marian perished as a member of the Ukrainian National Resistance. Months after the end of WWII, Roman with the Division of 10,000 men were placed in internment camps in Italy under the control of the British. There he served as the Chief Medical Officer at the internment camp in Rimini’s Gesinalico Hospital. Two years later, the Division was transferred to England where Roman again served as the internment camp Chief Medical Officer. In England he married a nurse serving at the camp, Valentina (Fabian), and had two children, Mariana (Lalka) and Adrian.
Roman immigrated to Canada in 1951, where he had three more children: Yuri, Miroslava and Roksolana (Ruzycky). As a new immigrant, he interned for a year at the Ottawa Civic Hopsital, and the following year he served at St. Joseph’s Hospital as a Resident Orthopaedic Surgeon. In 1953, he became a fully accredited Physician in Canada, and two years later, a certified Orthopaedic Surgeon. Soon he attained the status of Medical Officer at the Worker’s compensation Board of Ontario, and Chief Resident of Orthopaedic Surgery at Sunnybrook Hospital. He served most of his medical career, from 1965 to 1985, as Chief of Orthopaedics at the Doctor’s Hospital in Toronto. As a multilingual doctor, Roman accepted countless injured immigrant workers and supported their applications for insurances and workman’s compensation. Roman remained at the forefront of his orthopaedic specialty by attending and presenting at international conferences, earning honourary memberships for his contributions. His certifications and awards could cover several walls; however, Roman chose only to frame his licenses.
Roman was co-founder of the Ukrainian Canadian Medical Association (UCMA), an organization formed to unite physicians of the Ukrainian Diaspora in Canada during the Cold War. The association published medical literature in the Ukrainian language, to disseminate Western medical information and practice to their colleagues in the Soviet Ukraine. Roman was president of the UCMA for many years, during which time he hosted and organized international medical conferences. Roman was also co-founder of the St. Andrew’s Hospital Association in Toronto, an organization that initiated the start-up of the first Ukrainian Canadian hospital, which evolved into a care centre for the Ukrainian elderly named after Ivan Franko – a famous Galician poet. Roman became the Chairman of the Board, a position that he held for several years. During his senior years, he was a Consulting Orthopaedic Surgeon in Toronto with the Lockwood Clinic, the St. Clair-Dufferin Medical Centre, the Independent Medical Assessment Corporation (IMAC), and the Worker’s Compensation Board of Ontario. His last private practice office was on Roncesvalles Avenue in Toronto.
Roman, also as vice-president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), was among the first to recognize and support the now renowned William Kurelek, who, with Roman’s collaboration, designed and created a series of parade floats for the 75th anniversary of Ukrainians in Canada. His friendship with Kurelek remained until artist’s premature death. During this period, Roman also co-hosted a banquet in honour of Cardinal Josef Slipyj during his visit to Canada.
His philanthropic interests started at the peak of his professional career, and as a diversion from his personal family strife. Roman’s sister Nadia tragically died with her husband and one child, leaving two orphaned children. His father, who served at St. Mary’s Dormition Ukrainian Catholic Church in Toronto and Holy Protection Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church in Guelph, died shortly thereafter. Roman had also lived through the loss of his daughter, Mariana. As the eldest of five siblings, he also survived Vera’s and Adrian’s deaths. It was Adrian who brought Roman back to his roots, to an independent Ukraine.
As with his medical career, Roman’s awards and citations for philanthropic work could span several walls. In 1987, he founded the Rev. Marian and Dr. Roman Curkowskyj Foundation to support scholarship in art, history and culture. He recognized that scholarships were essential to his own career, and thus extended awards from his foundation to talented and financially challenged students. He and his second wife, Chrystia (Gerechka-Stodilka), an art consultant and former art business owner, spent many years traveling and working to support his foundation’s causes. Roman also helped raise two step-children, Robert Stodilka and Danielle Stodilka, whose father died at an early age. Roman’s last years were spent with Chrystia as a seasonal resident in his beloved city Lviv, Ukraine, where he had a fulfilling social and cultural life. He passed away peacefully this New Years Day 2007 at the age of 89 in Lviv. Roman’s legacy of supporting scholarship and culture will continue through the work of his foundation.