MEROS BOHDAN LECKOW

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MEROS BOHDAN LECKOW

Meros Leckow passed away peacefully, age 101, in Richmond, BC, on December 8, 2020. He was a pillar of the Ukrainian community in Canada.
Meros was a man of many talents but was first and foremost a dancer. A child prodigy, Meros was a pioneer of Ukrainian dance in Canada who also mastered tap dancing and the violin. He began performing in the 1920s and, the following decade, regularly toured throughout Canada and the United States. He was featured in the Ukrainian movie "Marusia" in 1938. During the Second World War, Meros served in the RCAF as a member of the "Joe Boys" who entertained Allied troops throughout Canada. In 1945, Meros joined the highly-acclaimed Don Cossack Chorus in New York as its principal dancer and, as a member of the group, toured North America and Asia.
Returning to Winnipeg in 1951, Meros spent the next three decades introducing generations of young Canadians to Ukrainian dance. He organized and taught dance classes, and founded and directed the Meros Leckow Ukrainian Dancers and the Dancing Cossacks. His groups were a fixture of cultural life in Winnipeg and represented Manitoba in events in other parts of Canada and the United States.
Meros' contributions to Winnipeg's cultural life extended far beyond the Ukrainian community. With his wife, Lilja Leckow (nee Thorsteinson), Meros founded and directed the Winnipeg Icelandic Saga Dancers, the only Icelandic dance group in Canada. He was a leader of the Community Folk Arts Council of Winnipeg, serving as its first Vice-President, and a founder of Folklorama which he saw grow to become Canada's largest and most popular multicultural festival. With Lilja, he was an organizer of Folklorama's Scandinavian Pavilion and directed its entertainment programme for many years. As a leader of Winnipeg's ethnic cultural life, Meros was a friend and supporter of performing arts groups representing countries from all over the world.
In his professional life, Meros served for more than 30 years as an official of the Government of Manitoba's Health Services Commission. A graduate of United College (today's University of Winnipeg), Meros retired from the Health Services Commission in 1984. He moved with Lilja to Richmond, BC, where he focused his attention on his growing family of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, while also pursuing his passion for writing, genealogy, and painting.
Family was the centerpiece of Meros' life. He was a devoted husband to Lilja to whom he was married for 57 years before she passed away in 2002. He is survived by his daughter Marcia Leckow and her better half Joe Boston, his granddaughter Kristin and her daughters, Lilja and Leyja, and his granddaughter Carly Smith, her husband Mike Smith and their son Leifur, all of Richmond, BC. He is also survived by his son Ross Leckow and Ross' wife Margaux Polanski and their daughter Adrianna Leckow, all of Basel, Switzerland.

We love you Didi!
We will never forget you.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Dec 19, 2020