Fonds F2990 - Orest Rudzik fonds

Orest Rudzik (b. 1936, Toronto) earned his Honours B.A. (University College) at the University of Toronto, his M.A. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He taught in the Department of English at University College from 1961 to 1986, during which time he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Humanities Center of the Johns Hopkins University from 1968 - 1969. He created a Canadian Literature Programme for Atkinson College at York University. After completing his LLB (with honours) at Osgoode Hall Law School, he received his Call to the Bar in March of 1975. In his legal career, he served as Senior Counsel to the Public Guardian and Trustee of the Province of Ontario. He was a speaker at many academic conferences and published both academic and legal papers.
Rudzik was active in the Ukrainian community becoming the President of the Ontario Ukrainian-Canadian Committee and served as a member of the Ontario Multicultural Committee. Then he served as First National Vice President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) and in a variety of positions with the UCC and the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation thereafter. He spent from 1993 - 1994 in Kyiv, as Director of Law Training through the auspices of the Ukrainian Legal Foundation. Rudzik was also engaged in three of the quasi-war criminal cases as launched by the Department of Justice (Canada) against naturalized Ukrainian post-war citizens, against who allegations of fraud and consequent sanctions of deportation were threatened.
Later, Rudzik continued his law practice but mainly dealt with estates and estates litigation. He continued research into a variety of areas of intellectual history, including that of the assassination of Simeon Petliura and the judicial proceedings consequent upon his murder. He ended a 50 year association with the University when he became a member of the Senior Faculty at the University of Toronto, a member of its Executive Committee and was given the title of Senator. Orest Rudzik passed away in Oakville, December 8, 2016.