Future Bakery has been a staple of Eastern European goods both in Etobicoke and downtown Toronto in St. Lawrence Market for the past 30 years. It’s founder Roman Wrzesnewskyj (former chair of the Ukrainian Art Foundation, and most recently delivered fresh bread for Brian Mulroney) is the father of is MPP Etobicoke-Central Borys Wrzesnewskyj who wrote this memoriam:

Dear Friends,

On Sunday afternoon my father Roman; with my mother Irene, sister Ruslana, granddaughters Petra, Yaroslawa, Anka, Olena and Viktoria, and myself by his side; peacefully departed on his final journey after a courageous battle with cancer.

My father’s family were refugees fleeing the horrors of Soviet and Nazi terror during the Second World War. Our grandparents and my father arrived on Canada’s shores with dreams of peace and hopes for a better future.

He instilled in his children and grandchildren a deep appreciation and love for our great country Canada and an active engagement in our democracy and its resultant freedom. Alongside his love for Canada, dad, “tato,” also taught us to respect the history, struggles and sacrifices of our ancestral roots in Ukraine.

In typical immigrant fashion, he worked hard; picking tobacco, shoveling coal for the railroad, then working as a dish washer in Winnipeg while joining The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada. The family saved their earnings and saw the fulfillment of their immigrant dreams when they opened their first business, a bakery in the big city of Toronto. They named it “Future Bakery” for it was to be their vehicle towards building a better future for our family.

Over the decades he worked hard in building our successful businesses, believed strongly in giving back to community and country, while always living his life to the fullest. Many a time he was known to sneak away from our bakery with one of our employees and head off to play a match of tennis.

Our father Roman was unswayable in his principles, a perpetual optimist, a friend to turn to for advice; the rock of our family. While we know that he is always with us, we will all miss his physical presence.

Visitation and Panachyda services will take place on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, 4 Bellwoods Ave. (at Queen St. W.) at 7:30 pm. The funeral service will be held on Friday at 10:00 am at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church followed by internment at Park Lawn Cemetery in Etobicoke. A remembrance luncheon will take place at King’s Garden Banquet Hall (Etobicoke). In lieu of flowers, donations to Help Us Help The Children (2118-A Bloor St. W. Toronto, ON M6S 1M8) would be appreciated.

Kindest Regards,

Borys