Paslavskyi Mark Hrehori (Markiian Hryhorii) (Franko)

Markiyan Gregory Paslavsky was born on January 16, 1959, in New York to a family of Ukrainian emigrants who were forced to leave Ukraine during World War II to escape the threat of Soviet repression. His father, Osyp Paslavsky, came from a family of a Greek-Catholic priest from Lviv region (village of Popeli). His mother, Orysia Hunchak, was born in 1930 in the village of Stare Misto in the Pidhaitsi district of Ternopil region. Markiyan's parents met in New York and got married in 1954 at the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. George. The Paslavsky family had four children: besides Markiyan, there was an older brother, Nestor, and sisters Irena and Olena. Markiyan's uncle is the well-known Ukrainian historian Taras Hunchak. In his childhood, Markiyan attended the Ukrainian parish school of St. John the Baptist in Newark and was a member of "Plast." From 1973 to 1977, he studied at Vailsburg High School. He played volleyball well, which allowed him to enroll in the most prestigious American military academy — the United States Military Academy (West Point), which he graduated from in 1981 with a degree in engineering. For the next five years, Markiyan served in the American army, initially at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Later, he studied at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, where he learned Turkish. From 1983 to 1984, he served at American military bases in Turkey, and then at Fort Dix in New Jersey. He was discharged as a captain in 1986. From 1985 to 1986, Markiyan studied at Monmouth University, where he earned a master's degree in Business Administration. He worked as an investment banker in the USA, particularly at one of the most famous banks, Bear Stearns. In 1991, he first visited the then-Soviet Union and later traveled to Ukraine regularly. From the late 1990s, he mainly lived in Ukraine. He consulted on the export of metal products from the Mariupol plant abroad and worked in the banking sector. In Kyiv region, he founded the agricultural firm "Rusava-K," which became one of the most profitable enterprises in the area. He was a millionaire. Markiyan Paslavsky participated in the Orange Revolution. With the start of Euromaidan, he actively supported the anti-government protests. On February 20, Marko was also on the front lines of Maidan. Two years after his death, he was recognized in photographs from Instytutska Street. These photos were first published on the Facebook page of the community "Maidan. February 18-20. How it all was." With the onset of Russian aggression against Ukraine, Markiyan volunteered to join the National Guard. In April 2014, he took Ukrainian citizenship. Throughout June, he underwent training at a training ground in Novyi Petrivtsi, and on June 23, he took the oath and went to war. He fought in the "Donbas" battalion under the call sign Franco, which he took in honor of Ivan Franko. His relatives learned that Markiyan had gone to war from a post on his Twitter. Despite his officer rank, he joined the battalion as a private. Maks Levin: "I scroll through the Facebook timeline of 2014 to find a post about Franco's death, and I cry. God, how much has been contained. "On 19.08.2014, bad news from Donetsk. According to Max Dondyuk, 'Donbas' in Ilovaisk… A wonderful Ukrainian American Franco (Mark Paslavski) has died, a cheerful diasporan with a Canadian accent, who swore beautifully in Ukrainian. I was supposed to give him these photos — they were printed. He dreamed of entering Donetsk and returning to Kyiv, selling his apartment in Lviv, and settling somewhere in the cozy Carpathians…". It would be good to find the words. A unique person, Franco, I am glad to have known him. I have the honor and sadness — a little over a year ago, Franco looked at me from the bus window, now he smiles just the same from the gravestone. If only I had known… He enjoyed life like a 20-year-old boy. His family came from the States, from Germany. His mother, Mrs. Orysia, brother Nestor, cousins, cousin Larysa — a beautiful, large family, very nice people. Their family left the Soviet Union in 1944 during the war. They gathered in one night — they were supposed to be shot… A captivating story. Hundreds, thousands of new people will look up to Franco, including me. It's a pity he had no children; such a spirit should be passed down… Everything is not in vain." Ivan Danyiv, "The Family Nest of the Village of Krushelnytsia": "Oryst Melnychuk is an Australian physicist-researcher, traveler, who in 1978 had to visit his native village when he attended a scientific conference in Lviv. Criticizing the authorities regarding the living conditions and life of his fellow villagers, he never returned to Ukraine again. He was a member of the famous team of sailors led by Cousteau, and there is his book 'Warm and Cold Seas of the World,' where he also mentions and regrets that he knows so little about his native Carpathians, where he was born in 1917 in the village of Krushelnytsia. This book has already been translated into Ukrainian by Mykola Shpyhl, a professor at Australian and Harvard universities, a member of the 'Ukrainian Family' in Australia. It is used by geographers and scientists. I was very surprised when, by chance, in the spring of 1999, his grandson Marko Paslavsky visited the village, a simple man even in manners, who, while communicating with the author of the book 'The Village by the Striy River — Krushelnytsia,' Danyiv Zenoviy Dmytrovych, came to visit his ancestral nest. Very pleasant, quietly in his own way, who knows how to listen (maybe not understanding everything), with sincere eyes proving that for him this land is Holy because it started his lineage, his own… I don't know, I am so happy and my father (father-in-law Zenoviy Dmytrovych) is happy that we have already found our Great Krushelnytsian in the worlds. We have great plans for the future regarding the spiritual development of the village. Our Krushelnytsia family is growing…".