When you think of Ukrainians in New Jersey after World War II, you tend to look for people who arrived as displaced persons or emigres later in the period up to 2025. But a beloved community member was prominent here beginning in 1952. Myron Surmach (Senior) was the founder, owner and proprietor of the Surma Book and Music Company which was located on East 7th Street in the heart of the East Village “Little Ukraine” section. And he became a New Jersey resident when he bought two acres of land in Saddle River in 1952 to start his “Surmachivka” estate and apiary.Stuart, Mark A. “Of pysanky and bees, a youth of 80, a Spring Rite”, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.), April 27, 1975. P. 79. Bennett, Jean. “Ukrainians Eat 12 Traditional Meatless Dishes at Christmas”, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.), January 4, 1967, p. 17.
Born in Zheldets’, Lviv region, Ukraine in 1895, Myron Surmach arrived at Ellis Island in 1910 on his way to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to join his brother.Surmach, Myron. Історія моєї “Сурми”. New York, New York. Surma Publishing House, 1982, pps. 8-9. Myron Surmach Sr. was actually born Gregory Jaremczuk (Yaremczuk or Yaremchuk) on January 8, 1895 as was indicated in his 1926 “Declaration of Intention” to become a U.S. citizen. He changed his name to “Myron Surmach” sometime in the 1920’s before his marriage to Anastasia Babi in New York City in 1924. One of his relatives said he wanted to “reinvent himself” in his new homeland (personal communication to Michael Buryk). He settled in a thriving Ukrainian immigrant community there and found a job with a company making springs for wagons and carriages. After he lost his job at the spring shop, he decided to leave for New York. Myron always had a love for books, which he sold to his compatriots in Wilkes-Barre, so he opened a book shop on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1918 and also sold clothes. The Surma Book and Music Co., his uniquely Ukrainian venture, would continue to exist in various locations until 2016 when his grandson Markian Surmach closed the shop on East 7th St. for the last time.
By the 1950’s at the age of 59, Myron Surmach longed for some peace and quiet in the countryside. He decided to purchase two acres of open land in Saddle River (Bergen County), N.J. in 1952. “Surmachivka” became his special place to unwind, grow vegetables and launch a beekeeping business that continued past his death at the age of 98 in 1991. He cultivated an interest in beekeeping as early as age 3, when he would help his beekeeper grandfather channel swarms of bees in the apiary on his farm in Ukraine. Once Myron Sr. became settled in Saddle River, Myron Surmach Jr. took over the Surma bookstore business on East 7th St. and Myron Sr. would only visit the store on Sundays.
Over time, Myron Surmach Sr. became beloved among the residents of Saddle River and Bergen County where he would frequently receive groups of children in his apiary and teach them the mysteries of beekeeping. His organic honey (clover, raspberry and buckwheat) was sold locally through a self-serve stand on his estate and at the Surma bookstore in New York City.Bloshuk, Dennis. “Health may bee one hive away”, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.), August 20, 1986, p. 44. He was a strong advocate of an almost complete vegetarian and even vegan lifestyle to achieve good health and a long life. He was always extolling the medicinal value of eating honey, particularly for age-related disease like arthritis. He became well known for his lectures on nutrition.
There were frequent articles about Myron and his educational work in the local Bergen County newspaper, “The Record” (Hackensack, N.J.). They also wrote about the traditions and customs of him and his wife Anastasia especially at the time of year of Ukrainian Christmas. Always curious and willing to learn new things, he began learning to play the bandura, a traditional Ukrainian musical instrument, at the age of 84 in 1977.Stuart, Mark A. “A Talk with the Beekeeper”, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.), January 2, 1977. pps. 69 and 72. He would often entertain his students and guests at his Surmachivka estate with the bandura for the rest of his life. The Record columnist Mark Stuart described Myron as “chatty, wise, down to earth, direct and full of delicately imparted philosophy. A man with a heart, this Surmach is.”Stuart, Mark A. “A Talk with the Beekeeper”, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.), January 2, 1977. p. 72. He was filmed in his apiary with the bandura in the 1981 documentary by Robin Lehman, “Forever Young” depicting active seniors with a zest for life who defied the process of aging.“Forever Young”, 1980. Robin Lehman, director. View the Myron Surmach segment on YouTube.
Myron Surmach Sr. once said he would retire to Florida when he turned 100 years old. He didn’t consider his life before that retirement, nor did he think he was old. Myron died at the age of 96 in 1991 at his Surmachivka estate in Saddle River. He never did go South, and his memory remains cherished in New Jersey.