Longtime Alberta politician Gene Zwozdesky was a man of many talents — dance and music being near the top of that list.
Zwozdesky died Sunday after a battle with cancer. He was 70.
His childhood friend Orest Semchuk remembers meeting the Shumka dancer at Edmonton’s Victoria Composite High School in the early 1960s.
“I was new to the school out of junior high,” recalled Orest Semchuk, who first met Zwozdesky at age 15.
“I was at my locker and I looked over saw this guy at the drinking fountain obviously new to the school too, because he had a tweed jacket and a briefcase, and I thought, ‘I gotta meet this guy,'” said Semchuk, who would go on to dance and create music alongside Zwozdesky with the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers in Edmonton.
“I was in Shumka at the time and told him about it and then he joined as a dancer as well.”
Both would end up spending their entire adult life involved with the dance company, with Semchuk eventually teaching choreography and becoming the artistic director and Zwozdesky becoming the musical director, helping compose and direct music for more than 25 years.
‘Such a great person’
Semchuk said he last time he saw Zwozdesky was last Thursday at the hospital.
The loss of his friend has left him reliving old memories of their youth.
Gene Zwozdesky started out dancing with the Shumka dancers in 1963, and would go on to be the dance group’s musical director for 25 years. (Shumka Dance Centre)
“It’s really hard to lose a good friend,” said Semchuk. “I just think that we’ve lost such a great person.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by others who knew Zwozdesky.
‘We were truly fortunate to have him’
Like many involved in the music industry in Alberta, Barry Allen produced music with Zwozdesky through Allen’s company Homestead Recorders located in west Edmonton.
“I had the good fortune of having Gene in here many times,” said Allen.
“He had so much energy and he was very good with musicians, you know getting the best out of them and having everybody on the same page. We were truly fortunate to have him in our lives.”
‘Gene was a fellow who loved to talk to people’
His friends and foes in the political world have also been sharing memories since the announcement of his death.
Former Liberal MLA Frank Bruseker first met Zwozdesky as a rookie MLA in 1993.
Zwozdesky would go on to represent Edmonton-Mill Creek six times. He served as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 2012-2015 and held numerous cabinet positions including minister of Aboriginal relations and minister of education.
“Gene was a fellow who loved to talk to people, who loved to meet with them,” said Bruseker.
Bruseker remembered a conference at the Mayfair in Edmonton where Zwozdesky was talking up on stage.
The tributes pouring in for Gene Zwozdesky are a testament to his decades of hard work & dedicated public service as an MLA and Speaker. His contributions to Alberta – and to its vibrant Ukrainian community – will always be remembered.
—@JustinTrudeau
All of sudden, he said Zwozdesky’s mic cut out and the voice of a nearby performer singing Over The Rainbow at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre cut into his mic.
He said the MLA didn’t skip a beat.
“He stopped, and he listened and he said, ‘actually they’re pretty good,'” said Bruseker.
“He just took it in stride and went on with it. That was just the nature of Gene, you just roll with what you’ve got to roll with and he was pretty good at building relationships with people.”