Oleg V. Rodomar
Oleg V. Rodomar | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Born | 23 September 1900 Ukraine, part of Imperial Russia | ||
| Died | 30 January 1961 Toronto, Canada | ||
| Nationality | Ukrainian | ||
| Citizenship | Ukraine | ||
| Occupation | Industrialist of Serbian origin | ||
Oleg Vladimirovich Rodomar Vuketitch (Vyshniv, Volyn Oblast, Ukraine, part of Imperial Russia, 23 September 1900 - Toronto, Canada, 30 January 1961.[1]) was an outstanding Russian-Canadian industrialist of Serbian origin. In 1946 he received the Order of the British Empire[2]for his voluntary work as ration administrator for Canada's Wartime Prices and Trade Board during the World War II[3]. He is best remembered as the President of Philips Industries Limited who ushered in the first television sets at the time of its advent[4].
Biography
Born in Vyshniv, Ukraine, then part of Imperial Russia, on 23 September 1900, Oleg Vladimirovich Vukotitch hails from the Vukotić family originally from Čevo, Montenegro,[5] belonging to the Vukotić brotherhood. He is related to both Janko Vukotić and Petar Vukotić and Milena of Montenegro through his ancestor. Oleg attended the Cadet Corps (Russia) in Odessa when the first World War I broke out. He fought in the Imperial Russian Army against German Emperor and then with the White Army against the Bolsheviks before retreating to Western Europe and consequently North America from where he emigrated in 1924 to the Dominion of Canada.
His daughter Katherine Rodomar Breithhaupt wrote "Nothing by Half"[6][7], a biography of her father who as a young 16-year-old cadet left Odessa without permission to join the combatants at a village of Radomir in the Dioşti Commune where he took a variant of the village name and made it a part of his family name -- Rodomar. It was in a battle there that he came to be awarded the St. George Cross[8]for capturing eight Bulgarians in the Great War and continued fighting through the Russian Revolution, the ensuing Russian Civil War|civil war, the Capture of Kazan by the White Army from where he traveled by rail across Siberia to Vladivostok while ill. At the Russian port, he sought treatment in the American Expeditionary Force, Siberia Hospital and upon recovery, he embarked on a ship destined for the United States of America.
Meanwhile, the Bolsheviks got rid of a large number of prominent intellectuals whose opinions and influence they had reason to fear, including the future Serbian Bishop Mardarije Uskoković of North America (with whom Oleg shared the same Serbian heritage), John of Shanghai and San Francisco, Sergei Bulgakov, Nikolay Lossky, Nikolai Berdyaev, Peter Struve and Semyon Frank. Also forced into exile were Anatoly Pepelyayev, Pyotr Wrangel, Mikhail Diterikhs, Anton Denikin, admiral Alexander Kolchak, commander Radola Gajda of the Czechoslovakian Legion, general of the First and Second Serbian Divisions. Oleg Rodomar also witnessed many incidents during this period [9]that culminated in the fall of Imperial Russia and the Romanov dynasty.
As an exile, Rodomar Vukotich carried on his former line of thought and activity throughout his life. He settled in Windsor, Ontario, where he was employed by the Ford Motor Company, and as he moved up the corporate ladder in 1928, Oleg was transferred from Windsor to Montréal, Québec, where he worked at the introduction of the Ford Model A.
In 1930, Oleg became Assistant Regional Manager of the Chrysler Corporation for Eastern Canada. He lived in Montreal until the end of the war. In Montreal, he held an executive position on the board of the Saints Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Cathedral at 1175 Champlain Street where he also directed the church choir[1]. Also, he co-founded the Chapel of St. Sergius of Radonezh with Prince Sergei G. Trubetskoy[10] After 1945, he moved to Toronto where he became the head of Philips and an active parishioner of the Russian Orthodox Church of Christ The Saviour Cathedral as choir director.[11]
The Canadian experience was filled with many trials and tribulations and as an activist in the early Russian communities of Montreal, Labelle, Quebec, and Toronto. He frequently traveled to Canada's Western Prairies giving lectures prior to the war and after on Christian theology. Rodomar was influenced by the teachings of Nikolai Berdyaev and Sergei Bulgakov, of the Russian Religious Renaissance|Russian Theological Institute in Paris, who have evolved to Christianity from pitfalls of atheistic propaganda, the so-called Marxian Socialism. For many years Rodomar was vice-president of the metropolitan council of the Russian Orthodox Church of North America, now called the Orthodox Church of America (OCA). He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary[12]
He often lectured in history and theology while in Montreal and Toronto.
During World War II he served as deputy ration administrator for Canada's Wartime Prices and Trade Board and as deputy chairman of the Canadian Friends of Kingdom of Yugoslavia he was responsible for facilitating the very first humanitarian aid shipments to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia [13] via the Yugoslav ship SS Princ Andrej in 1945 and again in 1946 when the Communist took over the reins of the government of the Ancien Régime|former regime.
In 1946 he was one of the founding members of the Citizens Vigilance League of Quebec[14], along with Joseph Charbonneau, John Dixon (bishop)|John Dixon and other prominent Canadians.
Oleg V. Rodomar was married to Louise Anslie McLachlan of Chatham, Ontario and they had two boys (Douglas and Basil) and two daughters (Nathalie Daphne and Katherine)[15]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Leader-Post". The Leader-Post – via Google Books.
- ↑ "La Patrie". La Patrie – via Google Books.
- ↑ "Edmonton Journal". Edmonton Journal – via Google Books.
- ↑ "The Financial Post". The Financial Post – via Google Books.
- ↑ Martinović 1957, p. 5.
- ↑ https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Nothing_by_Half/feUONAEACAAJ?hl=en
- ↑ https://wcma.pastperfectonline.com/vocabulary?keyword=Rodomar%2C+Oleg+Vladimir&letter=R&searchtype=people&showsearch=true
- ↑ "The Montreal Gazette". The Montreal Gazette – via Google Books.
- ↑ https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Nicholas_and_Alexandra/cmhoGt7hmi4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=O.+W.+Rodomar&pg=PA552&printsec=frontcover
- ↑ https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Year_Book_and_Church_Directory_of_the_Ru/U8kTAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Oleg+V.+Rodomar&dq=Oleg+V.+Rodomar&printsec=frontcover
- ↑ https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Russian_American_calendar_guide/ZaUNAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Oleg+W.+Rodomar&dq=Oleg+W.+Rodomar&printsec=frontcover
- ↑ https://www.google.ca/books/edition/St_Vladimir_s_Seminary_Quarterly/WsETAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Oleg+Vladimir+Rodomar&dq=Oleg+Vladimir+Rodomar&printsec=frontcover
- ↑ "The Montreal Gazette". The Montreal Gazette – via Google Books.
- ↑ "Le Canada". Le Canada – via Google Books.
- ↑ https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Our_Ansley_Family/pENKAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Oleg+Vladimir+Rodomar&dq=Oleg+Vladimir+Rodomar&printsec=frontcover
External links
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