Wasyl Sydorenko (1960-2022)
The parishioners of St Volodymyr Cathedral of Toronto share in the deep sadness on the passing of Wasyl Sydorenko, and extend our sincere sympathies to Wasyl’s family during this incredibly difficult time. The creativity, knowledge, and passionate interests that Wasyl shared with us will be very much missed.
Wasyl Sydorenko was born in 1960 in Toronto to Petro and Kateryna (née Wasyliw) who instilled in him love of Ukrainian culture and devotion to their Ukrainian Orthodox faith. This love was expressed by Wasyl in his many commitments—first and foremost his family, followed by his musical compositions and outreach, his volunteerism with St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral and his service as the Editor of Cathedral Bells for more than 20 years.
Wasyl joined the Petro Jacyk Central & East European Resource Centre (PJCR) as Reference Specialist when it opened its doors in 1995. Over the 27 years in this role, Wasyl assisted thousands of students, faculty, and scholars with their reference and research questions, with many of them developing life-long relationships with him. One can discover Wasyl’s role in fostering research, particularly in Ukrainian studies, by the various deserved acknowledgments he received. These include, among many others, publications on the pianist Dmitri Shostakovich, musicologist Robert-Aloys Mooser, Ukrainian dialects of Romania, the European tango, the memorialization of the Holodomor by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and on the Ukraine’s post-1991 economic transformation. Wasyl was deeply engaged in supporting the ongoing Baturyn archeological project in Ukraine, the site of the capital of the 17th-18th-century Cossack state and residence of the prominent Hetman Ivan Mazepa, for which he provided invaluable bibliographic, editorial, and technical assistance for over a decade. For his expertise, Wasyl was often invited to speak and share his knowledge about library resources, such as to Toronto Ukrainian Genealogy Group and St. Vladimir Institute. Particularly well received by the community were Wasyl’s lectures on the history of the Ukrainian Foxtrot and Ukrainian Waltz.
Wasyl contributed to and participated in several PJRC exhibitions and publications. He served as the Editor of the Centre’s annual newsletter PJRC Update (from 2011), and contributed insightful articles on archaeology, musicology, theatre, and, most recently, on the 100th-anniversay of Karel Čapek’s play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), for which he had been working on a parallel exhibition for 2022. Wasyl compiled and published directories to Central-Eastern European and Russian newspapers at UTL (in print and microform; 2002), and an electronic bibliography to publications by Ukrainian displaced persons and political refugees, 1945-1954, in the John Luczkiw collection, at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (2004). Wasyl’s artistic and design skills manifested themselves in a myriad of exhibitions, such as ones organized on works by writers including Pushkin, Tolstoy, Wisława Szymborska, Stanisław Januszko, and Marko Miljanov Popović; ones honoring the work of University of Toronto faculty, present and emeritus; and ones with thematic focus such as the abolition of serfdom in the Russian Empire, Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian culture, or the 450th anniversary of the first printed Lithuanian book.
Вічна пам'ять!