HARVEY DYCK

HARVEY DYCK Husband, father, grandfather, historian, researcher and political activist, died of heart failure on January 11, 2025 at the age of ninety. He was the loving husband of Anne Konrad, his high school sweetheart. A caring and engaged father to his children: Maria (Steve Krashinsky), Toozie (John Henry) and Alexander (Stephanie Curtis), he was a much loved grandfather to Jacob Carter and Annie, Henry and Ben Curtis-Dyck. Also a caring brother to his (deceased) sisters, Rita (Waldemar) Guenther and Lorna (Thomas) Boulter. Harvey was an adventurous world-traveler, passionate in many things, particularly about his family. He is remembered as a vital and caring individual, kind, welcoming, fond of music, with a great sense of humour, and a lover of celebrating life's big events. Harvey was born in Winnipeg Manitoba on March 16, 1934. His parents Anna Warkentin and Isaak John Dyck both emigrated from Soviet Russia. In 1944 the family moved to Abbotsford, British Columbia where Harvey's father became high school principal of the Mennonite Educational Institute. Harvey's Russian Mennonite background and family history would greatly influence his life. After graduating with an MA in History from the University of British Columbia, Harvey received his PhD from Columbia University, New York City. His teaching career began at Wesleyan University but then he returned to Columbia University to teach in the History Department from 1963 to 1966. He next moved to the University of Toronto as Professor of Russian and East European history, a position he held from 1966 to 1997. Since 1989 he was Director of a Research Program at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, now Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. Always an outspoken advocate for social justice with a deep concern for world issues, he chaired a Committee at the Toronto United Mennonite Church that sponsored and settled over 50 Vietnamese refugee families. He was President of the University of Toronto Faculty Association where he successfully negotiated a record setting Award for faculty and library workers that strengthened faculty power for Ontario university associations. He spent the last decades of his life scouring archives, researching and telling the story of what had happened to the Mennonites who had lived in the former USSR for over 200 years. The violent Bolshevik Revolution and Soviet policies of collectivization, exile, penal labour camps, imprisonment and execution led to the disappearance of one quarter of Mennonite men and thousands more Mennonites became refugees in an exodus to Canada and South America. Described as "a man of vision", Harvey would become instrumental in a renaissance in Russian Mennonite studies. In 1991, with the fall of the Communist government, he gained access to many state archives in the former USSR and began a multi-year microfilming program, collecting as many previously believed 'lost' documents as possible before the state would again close access. Through his efforts, these important records are now available in Canada and elsewhere where they continue to inform study of Russian history. He became chief co-organizer of two scholarly international conferences held in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. He helped to create scholarships, thus supporting research and publication of papers and books. He actively fundraised to place markers and monuments in villages and towns of former Mennonite settlements in Ukraine. A particularly important monument in Zaporizhzhia, cherished locally and acknowledged as representing citizens that perished due to Soviet policies, remains sandbagged in the recent Russian occupation. He had a pivotal role in the creation of the Friends of the Mennonite Centre in Ukraine, a community centre providing medical, educational and humanitarian aid to local residents. Harvey saw this as a Mennonite response to the tragic part of their history. Harvey was a devoted and loving father to his children and grandchildren. He loved to joke around and laughed readily. His children and grandchildren have the fondest memories of time spent together at the family farm in Purple Valley, collecting coloured leaves in bumpy rides in the red pickup truck, and driving the John Deere mower. Harvey is predeceased by his parents, two sisters and their husbands. He is survived by his wife Anne Konrad, his three children and four grandchildren and by nephews and nieces Rick Guenther (Valerie Stevens), Stan Guenther (Pat Miller), Linda Boulter, Shauna Grant (John), Steve Boulter (Tracy). Also by in-laws, Elizabeth Konrad (Jake), Lillian and John B. Toews, George and Hilda Konrad, Bernard and Irma Konrad, Louise Friesen (Neil) Candelaria Arceo (Herman) Konrad, and many nieces and nephews, relatives here and in British Columbia. The family wishes to thank Dr. Ken Shulman and Harvey's caregivers Dina Sapitan and Amante Batoon. A visitation will be held at Humphrey Funeral Home A.W. Miles – Newbigging Chapel, 1403 Bayview Ave, Toronto, on Friday, January 17th from 2:00 to 4:00 pm and 6:00 to 8:00pm. A funeral will take place on Saturday, January 18th at 10:30 am at the Toronto United Mennonite Church, 1774 Queen St E, Toronto, ON M4L 1G7. Donations may be sent to Friends of the Mennonite Centre in Ukraine, www.mennonitecentre.ca/donate/. Condolences may be forwarded through www.humphreymiles.com.