 He
was the former chess master of Lithuania. Born in Uzpaliai, 1911, Povilas
Vaitonis graduated in Law, 1940, from Vilnius University, Kaunas, before
immigrating to Canada, 1949, fleeing communist oppression in his homeland.
Taking up residence in Hamilton, Ontario, within one year, Vaitonis became
chess champion of that city. Between 1951-1961, he was chess champion of
Ontario five times. He was Canadian national chess master in 1951 and again
in 1957. He also wrote a much heralded chess column for The Hamilton Spectator,
1953-1956. Internationally, Vaitonis represented Canada in the semi-finals
of the World Chess Championships in Saltjoebaden, Sweden, acquiring the
international master’s title. He also represented Canada in the Chess Olympics
in Amsterdam, 1954, and in Munich, 1958. In this view, Vaitonis, in foreground,
right, is at the Lithuanian Sports Club, Vytis, playing an Estonian Canadian
player, mid-1950s. [Photo, courtesy Lithuanian Museum, Mississauga] |
Dr.
Biruté Galdikas, encouraged by the late Dr. Louis Leakey to study
the great Asian ape with red hair, is a primatologist, world renowned for
her nearly three decades of studying orangutans in the jungles of Borneo.
Professor of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Biruté Galdikas,
a trained social anthropologist with a Ph.D. from UCLA, was born in Germany,
1946, while her Lithuanian parents were enroute to Canada as displaced
persons. Growing up in Toronto, Ontario, she now lives in British Columbia,
spending half of each year in Borneo studying the great ape that lives
in the tropical rainforests of that Malayan island in S.E. Asia. She has
been featured several times in National Geographic, profiled in Life and
The New York Times, and in 1997 received the prestigious Tyler Prize for
environmental achievement, along with Jane Goodall and George Schaller.
Recently made an Officer, Order of Canada, Dr. Biruté Galdikas,
a “Hero for the Earth,” is currently President, Orangutan Foundation based
in Los Angeles. [Photo, courtesy Filomena Galdikas]