Scholar, educator, translator, linguist.
Born in Winnipeg on 19 July 1907, he was the eldest of five children born to Ukrainian immigrants Mykhailo “Michael” Andrusyszyn (1880-1945) and Francisca “Frances” Ruda (1888-1965) who arrived on 10 May 1905 from Kalush, a county in Galicia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For his early schooling he attended St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic School in north-end Winnipeg and L’École Provencher in St. Boniface. He received a BA degree (1929) and MA degree (1931) in French literature from the University of Manitoba. He studied at the Sorbonne while completing his Master’s thesis. He received a doctoral degree (1940) in Romance languages from the University of Toronto and an AM degree (1945) in Slavic philology, Russian language and literature from Harvard University.
From 1941 to 1944, he was editor-in-chief of Kanadiis’ky Farmer / Canadian Farmer and in 1944-1945 he was appointed to head the Department of Slavic Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, where he worked until his retirement in 1975 at the age of 68. In this capacity he had a great impact on broadening Canadian awareness of Ukrainian culture. He is known internationally for his classic Ukrainian-English Dictionary published in 1955. He collaborated with Dr. Watson Kirkconnell (1895-1977) to publish an English translation of The Political Works of Taras Shevchenko (The Kobzar) and an anthology of selected works of 102 Ukrainian poets (The Ukrainian Poets 1189-1962) during the early 1960s. He also translated Wasyl Stefanyk’s The Stone Cross.
He was married twice. On 16 August 1934, he married Helen Virginia Krett (1911-1953) at Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church in Winnipeg. In 1954, he married Anne Hariette Zwizdaryk (1915-1989) in Winnipeg. There were no children from the marriages. He was a candidate for the Winnipeg constituency in the 1932 provincial general election but was not elected.
He died at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on 13 May 1983 and was buried at the Woodlawn Roman Catholic Cemetery in Saskatoon. His papers are at Library and Archives Canada and the University of Saskatchewan Archives.
See also:
The Grace of Passing: Constantine H. Andrusyshen: the Odyssey of a Slavist by June Dutka. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 2000.
“Constantine Henry Andrusyshen: The First Canadian-Born Slavist” by Victor O. Buyniak, Journal of Ukrainian Studies vol. 16, nos. 1-2 (summer-winter 1991): 211-218.
Obituary [Michael (Mykhailo) Andrusyszyn], Winnipeg Free Press, 28 December 1945.
Obituary [Helen Virginia Krett Andrusyshen], Winnipeg Free Press, 25 November 1953, page 38.
Obituary [Frances (Francisca) Ruda Andrusyshen], Winnipeg Free Press, 12 November 1965.
Obituary [Constantine Henry Andrusyshen], Winnipeg Free Press, 20 May 1983, page 21.
Obituary [Anne Hariette Zwizdaryk Andrusyshen], Winnipeg Free Press, 4 March 1989.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
This page was prepared by June Dutka.
Page revised: 23 June 2018
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