Jerry Dacy (BASc 1961, Mechanical) was born in Ukraine during the Second World War. His parents, Roman, a math teacher, and Helen fled war-torn Eastern Europe in the mid-1940s, eventually reaching Winnipeg, Manitoba late that same decade. They moved to Vancouver in the early 1950s, joining the large Ukrainian community that was settled in the area.
Roman and Helen found work at the University of British Columbia during the late 1950s and 1960s, positions that also provided them the tuition waivers that allowed Jerry and his younger brother Myron to attend and graduate from UBC. As such, UBC represented something more than income, something that Roman and Helen had striven for since leaving Ukraine: opportunities.
While Myron tragically lost his life in the early 1970s, Jerry used his education to considerable advantage. He joined Bechtel in Vancouver soon after graduating, and spent time at their headquarters in San Francisco where he met his wife Roxanne, who had also fled Ukraine after the war. Jerry used his education in mechanical engineering from UBC to join Bechtel’s refining division, becoming a skilled petroleum engineer. This work led him all over the world: Europe, the Middle East, UK, Singapore, and several places in the United States. He was head of Bechtel’s business development for Asia, and eventually ended up back in San Francisco as Vice President of Bechtel’s Petroleum Division, a position from which he retired in 2006.
Jerry remembered Vancouver with fondness, says his son Andy. They came back to Vancouver for a short time to live in 1972, and Andy remembers hiking in the North Shore mountains, skiing on Grouse, and visiting the UBC Vancouver campus for its natural beauty. “Vancouver was a transitional but ultimately happy time for the family,” says Andy. “They left Ukraine with nothing, and had many years of harrowing uncertainty across Europe and Canada before finally finding stability—and a home—in Vancouver.”
Throughout all the years away from UBC and Vancouver, Jerry never forgot how he got his start, and he left UBC an undesignated bequest in his will when he passed away in December 2023. “Dad was a loyal, hardworking, committed man, to his family and his company,” Andy notes. “He was a good mentor and he never hesitated to help others and give them a step up when he could—and his achievements in life meant he could do that a lot the further he went in his career.”
It makes sense then that one of Jerry’s last gifts was to his alma mater.
“Dad would have liked his gift to help students like him, those for whom UBC represented massive new opportunities. But he also trusted that UBC would use the funds wisely, for its core purpose of education and research that give back to the community, just as he did in many ways during his life.”
UBC greatly appreciates bequests or other estate gifts of unrestricted funds. “UBC is always committed to excellence in research and education, and has been for 100 years,” says Brian Altwasser, Director of Estates and Trusts at UBC, who helped bring Jerry’s gift to UBC. “Unrestricted gifts mean that we can use the funds to respond to areas of greatest need whenever the gifts are received—and as the world rapidly changes, and innovative research and pedagogy are realized and put into practice, UBC can support the newest best practices, no matter what those are. This is also a huge advantage to our donors: no matter when your estate gift comes to UBC, you can rest assured that UBC will be using it to advance key initiatives that address important and emerging issues.”
UBC would like to extend our sincere appreciation to Jerry for his gift, our condolences to Jerry’s family and friends for their loss, and to share our pride in the achievements of one of its alumni. We are honoured to be such a profound and positive part of Jerry’s story.
