Xenia N. Urban

Urban, Xenia N.
Xenia N. Urban, wife of distinguished breast cancer surgeon Jerome A. Urban, and the mother of three children, died peacefully at home of natural causes on October 15, 2013. She resided at Edgehill in Stamford, CT. Ninety-four years of age, she was born as Xenia Nicholayevna Poloushkin on August 24, 1919 in Washington D.C., to Nicholas and Anna Paula (Von Breztel) Poloushkin. Her father had been a colonel in the Imperial Russian army, and he was briefly an attaché in the Russian embassy in Washington D.C. before the family moved to New York City. When Xenia was three years old, her mother moved to Paris to establish Elizabeth Arden's business there. She later built her own natural cosmetics business, Anna Paula, in Paris. Xenia lived at Hopewell, a children's home in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and she remained there through her childhood and college years. In 1941, Xenia graduated from Adelphi University in Garden City, Long Island, with a B.S. degree in Biology. After graduating, she worked as a research assistant at Lederle Laboratories in Pearl River, New York, doing pioneering virus research.
Through a mutual friend, Xenia met Jerome Urban, a 1938 graduate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, who served his internship at Lenox Hill Hospital. Jerry joined the staff of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 1944. He joined the Navy as a medical officer and served at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In August of 1944, Xenia and Jerry were married, just prior to Jerry's being sent overseas, serving aboard the U.S.S. Rigel in the Philippines. While Jerry was overseas, Xenia lived in San Francisco and worked at Stanford Hospital. Upon their return to New York City after the war, Jerry and Xenia embarked on developing Dr. Urban's career as an esteemed breast cancer surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and on raising their three children in Scarsdale, NY. The Ubans also had homes in the Adirondacks and in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
As Dr. Urban became an internationally renowned breast cancer surgeon, he was a featured speaker at medical conferences throughout the world, and on these trips, Xenia and Jerry explored the remote wilderness areas. They both had inexhaustible energy. Among their many accomplishments, they won numerous sailboat racing championships in the Adirondacks and in the Virgin Islands, and they competed in whitewater canoe races on the upper Hudson River.
Xenia was a beautiful woman with elegant taste. She had a zest for life and drew great pleasure from nature. She took delight in showing the natural world to her family, hosting family trips to the Galapagos Islands and Alaska. She loved to garden and was a talented potter.
Xenia is survived by her two daughters, Alexandra Keast of Manhattan (Tom Banasiak) and Xenia Urban of Brooklyn (David Ford); her son Jere Urban of Monkton, Vermont (Robin Shalline); five grandchildren Emma Keast Banasiak, Alexandra Urban Andon, Christopher Urban (Mara Urban), Anna Urban, and Cameron Urban; and her great granddaughter Aurelia Rosalie Urban. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Gloria Urban of Manhattan and her niece Peg O'Malley of Reno, Nevada. Xenia was predeceased by her husband Dr. Jerome Urban in 1991. Xenia's enthusiastic spirit will be missed by her family and friends always. A memorial service will be held on November 2nd at three o'clock p.m. at Edgehill, 122 Palmers Hill Road, Stamford, CT.